Given And Taken.

The snow-flakes were softly falling
    Adown on the landscape white,
When the violet eyes of my first born
    Opened unto the light;
And I thought as I pressed him to me,
    With loving, rapturous thrill,
He was pure and fair as the snow-flakes
    That lay on the landscape still.

I smiled when they spoke of the weary
    Length of the winter's night,
Of the days so short and so dreary,
    Of the sun's cold cheerless light -
I listened, but in their murmurs
    Nor by word nor thought took part,
For the smiles of my gentle darling
    Brought light to my home and heart.

Oh! quickly the joyous springtime
    Came back to our ice-bound earth,
Filling meadows and woods with sunshine,
    And hearts with gladsome mirth,
But, ah! on earth's dawning beauty
    There rested a gloomy shade,
For our tiny household blossom
    Began to droop and fade.

And I, shuddering, felt that the frailest
    Of the flowers in the old woods dim
Had a surer hold on existence
    Than I dared to hope for him.
In the flush of the summer's beauty
    On a sunny, golden day,
When flowers gemmed dell and upland,
    My darling passed away.

Now I chafed at the brilliant sunshine
    That flooded my lonely room,
Now I wearied of bounteous Nature,
    So full of life and bloom;
I regretted the wintry hours
    With the snow-flakes falling fast,
And the little form of my nursling
    With his arms around me cast.

They laid his tiny garment
    In an attic chamber high,
His coral, his empty cradle,
    That they might not meet my eye;
And his name was never uttered,

    What e'er each heart might feel,
For they wished the wound in my bosom
    Might have tune to close and heal.

It has done so thanks to that Power
    That has been my earthly stay,
And should you talk of my darling,
    I could listen now all day,
For I know that each passing minute
    Brings me nearer life's last shore,
And nearer that glorious Kingdom
    Where we both shall meet once more!