Page:Roden Noel - A Little Child's Monument - 1881.pdf/100

"Lo! I give your darling rest;
Come and see him by-and-by!
Kiss the unanswering icy stone,
And know thyself alone, alone!
My repose is long and deep,
Not a passing earthly sleep."

Nay! this hath some inner sense;
I would resolve the mystery;
'Tis but a symbol of intense
Unwearying life for these who die.
Lord! may we wake to see Thy face,
And our beloved in Thine embrace?
We dream a dream of cold white death,
And all our being shuddereth.
Ah! when may we interpret, Lord,
The meaning of Thy mystic Word?

Death is very pitiful,
Death for a dear child!
A pure white bud some wanton pull
Scatters on the wild!
And yet one woe may deeper move,
The dying and the death of Love!
He seemed so amiable, so fair,
All holy, a perennial youth!
Dumb and stark he lieth there;
God Himself may weep for ruth.