Page:Roden Noel - A Little Child's Monument - 1881.pdf/15

Lo! I lay them on thy tomb;
May they a little lighten gloom,
Soothe an aching void, and bless
In love's distress!

Thou should have laid me my in quiet grave,
Sorrowing calm;
And I with folded palm.
But now above thine own behold I rave!
With all thy life before thee so to die,
Unseasonably!
"Whom the gods love die young;"
To that sweet saying, then, I clung.

Ghastly Doubt, and chilling Fear,
The wan Ages' Quest is here,
Trembling Hope, and faltering Faith,
Intent on what God whispereth.
It was thy leaving me that shook
Content in this deluding nook
Of rainbow life, that seems upbuoyed
A moment in a rayless void;
So I sought for firmer ground;
And I tell to others what I found.

I would embalm thee in my verse:
To loving souls it shall rehearse
Thy loveliness when I am cold,