THOUGH heaven has gained one angel more, My heart, dear God, is wondrous sore; For that bright angel Thou hast won Was my sweet lamb, my only son. How shall an earthly mother bear Such awful anguish and dispair? How shall she live, and living, know Such depths of overwhelming woe? Without Thy aid, dear God, my soul Is shipwrecked in a sea of dole; Without Thy rescuing hand, I sink Beyond the world's abysmal brink. He was my pride, my hope, my joy— Ah, bitterest though, @3my only boy!@1 And now, while night-winds madly rave, My heart is buried in his grave. Too much I worshiped him, perchance Too much I drifted from Thy glance. Thou art a jealous God, and Thou Hast put Thy crown upon my brow. I pass beneath Thy rod; I pray To find salvation's thorny way— I care not by what pangs beguiled, So it but lead me to my child. Ah, blesséd thought to know that he Is safe from sin and misery; That, in the young May of his life, He fell unsullied in the strife. I treasure up his image fair, I kiss his tress of shining hair, Thrilling to hope, in heaven, that he Will be "the first to welcome me." Within Thy sheltering arms, I place My idol, glorified by grace; And, with the dear ones left, my eyes Gaze through the gates of Paradise. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOMESDAY BOOK: LILLI ALM by EDGAR LEE MASTERS YOUNG BULLFROGS by CARL SANDBURG THE BIRDS by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS WHITE AN' BLUE by WILLIAM BARNES TRULY GREAT by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES SONNET by ALICE RUTH MOORE DUNBAR-NELSON LOVE NOT by CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH SHERIDAN NORTON |