Poems (Charlotte Allen)/The Fading Flower

by Charlotte Allen

THE FADING FLOWER.

A mother gazed on her beauteous boy,
 And smoothed back his golden hair,
As weeping she kissed his pallid brow,
 For the hand of death was there.
Disease now prey'd on that youthful form,
 And dimmed his once sparkling eye,
The roseate morning of life was chilled,
 His pulses, all prostrate lie.

He felt that Ins earthly course was brief;
 It damped not his spirits glow,
To think thus young he must bid adieu
 To childhood's bright dreams below,
It pained him to see his parent weep;
 He knew that she wept for him;
He sought to sweeten her grievous cup,
 With sadness filled to the brim.

Dear Mother, weep not, although so soon
 I shall pass away from earth,
I go to a brighter realm above,
 The home of my spirit's birth.
I feel that 't is hard to die so young,
 When life is both fresh and fair,
I'd like to linger still longer here,
 And breathe the sweet-scented air.

But it cannot be, for God decrees,
 That we, dear Mother, must part—
Then weep no more, but look to Him,
 To soothe thy sorrowing heart.
Though early we part forever here,
 I trust we shall meet again,
In a realm of boundless love and peace,
 Of freedom from death and pam.

The parent knew that his words were true,
 And she sought her sorrows to bear,
As 'neath the all-seeing eye she bent,
 And yielded her soul to prayer.