The Christian Mother's Lament.

THE FOLLOWING LITTLE POEM WAS SUGGESTED BY A PASSAGE IN THE MEMOIRS OF THE LATE MRS. SUSAN HUNTINGTON OF BOSTON, NEW ENGLAND.


Ah! cold at my feet thou art sleeping, my boy,
    And I press on thy pale lips, in vain, the fond kiss;
Earth opens her arms to receive thee, my joy!
    And all I have suffered was nothing to this:
The day-star of hope 'neath thine eyelids is sleeping,
No more to arise at the voice of my weeping.

Oh, how art thou changed!--since the light breath of morning
    Dispelled the soft dew-drops in showers from the tree,
Like a beautiful bud, my lone dwelling adorning,
    Thy smiles called up feelings of rapture in me;
I thought not the sunbeams all brightly that shone
On thy waking, at eve would behold me alone.

The joy that flashed out from those death-shrouded eyes,
    That laughed in thy dimples and brightened thy cheek,
Is quenched--but the smile on thy pale lip that lies,
    Now tells of a joy that no language can speak.
The fountain is sealed, the young spirit at rest,
Ah, why should I mourn thee--my loved one--my blest?