The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
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LINES ON THE DEATH OF A CHILD
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| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
130
LINES ON THE DEATH OF A CHILD
I
Fresh flowers of spring,New birds on wing,
The young year's breezes, soft-plumed and divine;
New faces fair
In glad new air,
The young green tender buds upon the pine;
New white tides' jocund race—
But not the little footstep, not the little face!
131
II
The gold hair sleepsAmid the deeps
Of God, amid the arms of angels fair;
No more to me
Its purity
Gleams gold across the dazzled morning air;
Soft footsteps green meads grace,
But not the little footstep, not the little face!
III
Red roses blowNow, row on row,
And white dear buds, the likeness of a child;
And pimpernels
Peep forth in dells,
And o'er the seas the April winds float mild;
Such gladden every place,
But not the little footstep, not the little face!
132
IV
No more, no more,By hill or shore
The grey eyes laugh, the child-look upward smiles:
Many are fair
In life's new air,
Some with the sweetest love that woe beguiles,
Lips that can sorrow chase—
But not the little footstep, not the little face!
V
The lanes are sweetWith young girls' feet;
The roads of late life bloom beneath the tread
Of women-flowers
Who star life's bowers,
Dark-haired, divine, with locks whence sweetness shed
With flowers doth interlace—
Where is the little footstep, where the little face?
133
VI
Dark hair is sweet,And passion's heat;
But ah! the bright glow of the early day
When simple things
On snow-white wings
Gave joys that now for e'er must pass away—
Leaving no trace, no trace,
Where trod the little footstep, laughed the little face.
1880.
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |