 | Poems |  |
86
SAFE.
[For A. W. B.]
Pale, broken bud, that cannot be a rose!
On thee no summer tempest ever blows;
No bee shall blight thy heart, no driving rain
Thy tintless petals with its passion stain.
No sun shall burn thee, and no frost assail;
Safe shalt thou bloom beyond the wintry gale.
On thee no summer tempest ever blows;
No bee shall blight thy heart, no driving rain
Thy tintless petals with its passion stain.
No sun shall burn thee, and no frost assail;
Safe shalt thou bloom beyond the wintry gale.
Dear lamb! for thee no stormy wind shall beat,
No drifting snows beset thy tiny feet,
No hunger rage, no thirst, no vague despair
Vex thy sweet life in that celestial air.
For thee no more are mortal hurts or harms,
Safe folded in thy tender Shepherd's arms.
No drifting snows beset thy tiny feet,
No hunger rage, no thirst, no vague despair
Vex thy sweet life in that celestial air.
For thee no more are mortal hurts or harms,
Safe folded in thy tender Shepherd's arms.
Birdling, that fluttered at the window-pane,
And fell beside it, ne'er to rise again!
Thy feeble wing has found eternal rest,
No terror pants within thy sleeping breast;
No human hand, no tyrant of the sky,
Can rob the nest where thy closed pinions lie.
And fell beside it, ne'er to rise again!
Thy feeble wing has found eternal rest,
No terror pants within thy sleeping breast;
No human hand, no tyrant of the sky,
Can rob the nest where thy closed pinions lie.
Sweet dream that lit upon thy mother's heart
A joyful moment, pausing to depart;
Such solace as in sleep He sometimes sends
Who shapes our losses to divinest ends,
Though thy frail symbol sleeps beneath the sod,
We know thy waking rapture was with God.
A joyful moment, pausing to depart;
87
Who shapes our losses to divinest ends,
Though thy frail symbol sleeps beneath the sod,
We know thy waking rapture was with God.
Ascending spark, that from our stricken sight
Fled quivering upward to be lost in light,
For thee no moth shall mortal pangs endure,
No tears shall dim thee and no night obscure;
Only another star in heaven we see,
And look to God whene'er we look for thee.
Fled quivering upward to be lost in light,
For thee no moth shall mortal pangs endure,
No tears shall dim thee and no night obscure;
Only another star in heaven we see,
And look to God whene'er we look for thee.
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