Poems (Jackson)/When the Baby died

by Helen Hunt Jackson

WHEN THE BABY DIED.

I.

      HEN the baby died,
  On every side
White lilies and blue violets were strown;
Unreasoning, the mother's heart made moan:
"Who counted all these flowers which have grown
      Unhindered in their bloom?
      Was there not room,
O Earth, and God, couldst thou not care
For mine a little longer? Fare
Thy way, O Earth! All life, all death
For me ceased with my baby's breath;
All Heaven I forget or doubt.
      Within, without,
Is idle chance, more pitiless than law."
And that was all the mother saw.

II.

      When the baby died,
      On every side
Rose strangers' voices, hard and harsh and loud.
The baby was not wrapped in any shroud.
The mother made no sound. Her head was bowed
That men's eyes might not see
      Her misery;
But in her bitter heart she said,
"Ah me! 'tis well that he is dead,
My boy for whom there was no food.
If there were God, and God were good,
All human hearts at least might keep
      The right to weep
Their dead. There is no God, but cruel law."
And that was all the mother saw.

III.

      When the baby died,
      On every side
Swift angels came in shining, singing bands,
And bore the little one, with gentle hands,
Into the sunshine of the spirit lands.
      And Christ the Shepherd said,
      "Let them be led
In gardens nearest to the earth.
One mother weepeth over birth,
Another weepeth over death;
In vain all Heaven answereth.
Laughs from the little ones may reach
      Their ears, and teach
Them what, so blind with tears, they never saw,—
That of all life, all death, God's love is law."