Poems (Coates 1916)/Volume II/Mediæval

by Florence Earle Coates

For other versions of this work, see Mediæval.

MEDIÆVAL

SHE said: "My babe is dead:
Unchristened did he die.
I wake in the long, lone night
And hear his plaintive cry.

"I wonder does God hear,
And will not let him in—
My little one who died
All innocent of sin?

"The wicked, who repent,
Win heaven, so men say;
And was my bonny child
Less dear to Him than they?

"There's not a soul in bliss,
Rejoicing in God's Son,
That's purer or more sweet
Than was my little one!

"Lowly, at Mary's shrine
Before the dawn of day
I kneel, for him to plead
Who was too small to pray

"Ah, mother blessed! bring
My babe to know the light!
Or, pitying, win for me
With him to roam the night!"