Page:Roden Noel - A Little Child's Monument - 1881.pdf/48

Of yon serene ethereal pleasance,
Mine angel, mine!
Nestle softly with the rest;
If a moment he reposes
On the aerial mount of Roses!
Or where from Jungfrau's radiant breast
Roll white thunderous avalanches,
And the dim ravine swift blanches
With a ghostly snow
Fair, far below!
So white-winged Consolation glides
Into a heart where Death abides …
… Is it a loud acclaim of deep immortal voices,
When all the effulgent host of warriors rejoices,
And the ever-burning fire
Of holy love leaps higher,
For wings of seraphs rushing from their light on high,
Into earth's deadly shadow, to help mortality? …
… Or near Eigher's pyramid
May my lovely child lie hid,
With the pulsing evening star,
In realms of roses fair and far?

And tho' I come no more as erst I came,
Fleet-foot as wind, with youthful eyes aflame,
Eager to scale thy snows, and gladly dare,
Free as a fawn, heart-whole as mountain air,
But halting with dull weight of years and pain,