University of Virginia Library

GUERDON

Upon the white cheek of the Cherub year
I saw a tear.
Alas! I murmured, that the Year should borrow
So soon a sorrow.
Just then the sunlight fell with sudden flame:
The tear became
A wond'rous diamond sparkling in the light—
A beauteous sight.

289

Upon my soul there fell such woeful loss,
I said, “The cross
Is grievous for a life as young as mine.”
Just then, like wine,
God's sunlight shone from His high Heavens down;
And lo! a crown
Gleamed in the place of what I thought a burden—
My sorrow's guerdon.