The Poetry of Robert Burns Edited by William Ernest Henley and Thomas F. Henderson |
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ON THE DEATH OF A FAVOURITE CHILD |
 | The Poetry of Robert Burns |  |
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ON THE DEATH OF A FAVOURITE CHILD
I
O, sweet be thy sleep in the land of the grave,My dear little angel, for ever!
For ever?—O no! let not man be a slave,
His hopes from existence to sever!
II
Though cold be the clay, where thou pillow'st thy headIn the dark, silent mansions of sorrow,
The spring shall return to thy low, narrow bed,
Like the beam of the day-star to-morrow.
III
The flower-stem shall bloom like thy sweet seraph formEre the spoiler had nipt thee in blossom,
When thou shrank frae the scowl of the loud winter storm,
And nestled thee close to that bosom.
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IV
O, still I behold thee, all lovely in death,Reclined on the lap of thy mother,
When the tear-trickle bright, when the short stifled breath
Told how dear ye were ay to each other.
V
My child, thou art gone to the home of thy rest,Where suffering no longer can harm thee:
Where the songs of the Good, where the hymns of the Blest
Through an endless existence shall charm thee!
VI
While he, thy fond parent, must sighing sojournThrough the dire desert regions of sorrow,
O'er the hope and misfortune of being to mourn,
And sigh for this life's latest morrow.
| The Poetry of Robert Burns | |