ON THE DEATH OF AN INFANT.
 
                        Why should we weep for thee,
        Since thou hast gone unsullied back to heaven,
        No stain upon thy spirit's purity,
                        No sin to be forgiven?
 
                        Love watched thee from thy birth,
        Fond hearts around thee tireless vigils kept;
        And o'er thy tender soul the storms of earth
                        Had never rudely swept.
 
                        Thou art spared a fearful lore --
        A knowledge all attain who linger here;
        The changed, the cold, the dead, were words that bore
                        No import to thine ear.
 
                        Methought I saw in thee,
        Thus early as I marked by many a token,
        A soul that might not war with Destiny,
                        A heart that could be broken.
 
                        But sinless, tearless, gone,
        Undimmed, unstained, who would not thus have died!
        For thee then let these vain regrets be done,
                        These selfish tears be dried.
 
                        Go to thy little bed!
        The verdant turf is springing fresh and fair,
        The flowers thou lovedst shall blossom o'er thy head,
                        The spring birds warble there.
 
                        And while to shapeless dust
        Thy cherub form is gently mouldering back,
        Our thoughts shall upward soar, in hopeful trust,
                        On thy freed spirit's track.