Death of an Infant

Death found strange beauty on that cherub brow, And dash’d it out. – There was a tint of rose O’er cheek and lip; – he touch’d the veins with ice, And the rose faded. – Forth from those blue eyes There spake a wistful tenderness, – a doubt Whether to grieve or sleep, which Innocence Alone can wear. – With ruthless haste he bound The silken fringes of their curtaining lids Forever. – There had been a murmuring sound With which the babe would claim its mother’s ear, Charming her even to tears. – The spoiler set His seal of silence. – But there beam’d a smile, So fix’d and holy from that marble brow, – Death gazed and left it there; – he dared not steal The signet-ring of Heaven.