The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
I. |
II. |
III. |
IV. |
V. |
VI. |
I. |
II. |
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 | ||