Poems (Rice)/Lines suggested at the Funeral of a Lovely Child

by Maria Theresa Rice

LINES SUGGESTED AT THE FUNERAL OF A LOVELY CHILD, AT ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, CHARLESTOWN, NOVEMBER 20, 1856.

LOVELY little Fannie,
 How can I gaze to-day
Upon thy precious form
 Of most exquisite clay?
I did not think, when last
 I pressed thy tiny hand,
That you would soar so soon,
 Up to the spirit-land.

List! to the startling bell,
 And O! its lengthened peal;
Is this a funeral knell
 Which on my ear doth steal?
Suggestive is the chime
 To pilgrims here below,
How touching, how sublime
 It speaks, we too must go.

Loving hands have robed
 Thy fragile form with care;
Upon a gem so beautiful,
 To gaze, I hardly dare.
How like the beauteous flower,
 Culled from the laden bough
At morning's rosy hour,
 Thou seemest to me now.

Just ten short years ago
 They to the altar came,
Where mystic waters flow,
 For thy baptismal name;
And there they bowed and prayed
 Thy nature to renew,
Now in the casket laid
 Shrined as the crystal dew.

The solemn dirge is sung,
 The sacred service o'er;
And ye, whose hearts are wrung,
 May blessings on you pour.
Look up and kiss the chastening rod—
 Why weep when thou hast given
A cherub unto God,
 An angel unto heaven?