60
THE LITTLE BOY I LOST.
I know I have forever lost The darling boy I loved so well;The wild pain sweeping through my heart, No verse of mine can ever tell.His little golden head will rest Upon his mother's knee no more,The tiny bark whose sails I set Has stranded on a barren shore.
The other little ones who went, Before me to the golden landI hope sometimes to claim again, And feel them clinging to my hand,But this, my first and best beloved, The sweetest joy my heart has known,Has drifted far away from me, Beyond my loving arms has grown.
The rosy lips are wearing now The down of manhood's early dawn;And from the ruddy, velvet cheek The childish dimples long have gone.The timid feet I taught to step Ring out now with a manly tread;
