Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CHILD-ANGEL'S RETURN, by EDWARD NOYES POMEROY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CHILD-ANGEL'S RETURN, by                    
First Line: A child-angel came down from her home in high heaven
Last Line: "at the longest, my dear ones, it cannot be long."
Subject(s): Angels; Death - Children; Death, Return From; Heaven; Spirituality; Death - Babies; Paradise


A child-angel came down from her home in high heaven
To the home she had left on the earth far away;
She had dwelt for a year, or it might be for seven,
Where a day is a year and a year is a day.

But her wish was so great to return to her mother,
To her sister and father, and see how they were,
In the home she still loved, though she now had another,
She would travel to them since they came not to her.

Though the distance was great, and she came unattended,
So direct was her course, and so rapid her flight,
That before she was conscious, her journey was ended,
And the scene of her earth-life had gladdened her sight.

What emotions were hers as she passed through the portal
Of the little brown cottage with guardian trees!
By these she was sheltered in the days she was mortal,
Who now, an immortal, revisited these.

The home-picture was warm, though a cold wind was blowing;
In the old easy-chair in the favorite place,
Her pale, sorrowful mother sat silently sewing,
And the fireside's effulgence transfigured her face.

They had made little change since the day she departed;
Her own picture was there, her wee clock on its shelf;
The mirror, the sofa, the books, and—she started,
For one place was vacant, she had filled it herself

While her father sat pensive, his thoughts not revealing,
And her sister was soothing her cat where it lay,
Down her mother's sad face was a shining tear stealing,
And her longing was mighty to steal it away.

But at this tender moment the silence was broken,
For her mother's deep sigh had fast followed her tear,
And in accents of grief were these yearning words spoken:
"Oh, how much would I give could my Edith be here!"

"Could she only return from her mansion in heaven,
Just to tell me again that her love is the same,
Could she say that each petulant word was forgiven,
I would ask for no more till eternity came."

And her father replied, from his seat by the table,
Without lifting his eyes as he shaded his brow:
"Dearest heart, do you know I believe she is able?
Although we see her not, the child may be here now."

Not a word more was said, but the mother was weeping,
While the father was musing again as before,
And the sister was rocking, the pet cat was sleeping,
And her clock ticked its time on its shelf by the door.

Yet the child-angel grieved not, beholding this sorrow,
For her pleasure had come after bitterest pain,
And their gladness would be all the greater tomorrow,
As the sunlight is brightest that follows the rain.

Then she breathed an adieu to her parents and sister,
She returned as she came and rejoined the bright throng,
With these words on her lips, as a child-angel kissed her,
"At the longest, my dear ones, it cannot be long."





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