Poems on Grief and Infant Loss

- by Horatius Bonar

He was the music of our home,

A day that knew no night.

The fragrance of our garden bower,

A thing all smiles and light.

Above the couch we bent and prayed

In the half-lighted room,

As the bright hues of infant life

Sank slowly into gloom.

The form remained;

but there was now

No soul our love to share;

Farewell, with weeping hearts, we said,

Child of our love and care.

But years are moving quickly past,

And time will soon be o'er;

Death shall be swallowed up in life

On the immortal shore.

Then shall we clasp that hand once more,

And smooth that golden hair;

Then shall we kiss those lips again,

When we shall meet him there.'

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'Little Boy Blue' - by Eugene Field

The little toy dog is covered with dust,

But sturdy and staunch he stands;

And the little toy soldier is red with rust,

And his musket molds in his hands.

Time was when the little toy dog was new,

And the toy soldier was passing fair;

And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue

Kissed them and put them there.

'Now, don't you go till I come, he said,

"And don't you make any noise!'

So, toddling off to his trundle-bed,

He dreamt of the pretty toys;

And, as he was dreaming, an angel song

Awakened our Little Boy Blue-Oh!

the years are many, the years are long,

But the little toy friends are true.

Aye, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,

Each in the same old place-

Awaiting the touch of a little hand,

The smile of a little face;

And they wonder, as waiting the long years through

In the dust of that little chair,

What has become of our Little Boy Blue,

Who kissed them and put them there."

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A Mother’s Lament – by James Montgomery

For then this waking eye could see

In many a vain vagary,

The things that never were to be,

Imaginations airy;

Fond hopes that mothers cherish,

Like still-born babes perish.

I loved thee, daughter of my heart,

My child, I loved thee dearly;

And though we only met to part,

How sweetly! How severely!

Nor life nor death can sever

My soul from thine forever.

Sarah! My last, my youngest love.

The crown of every other!

Though thou art born in heaven above,

I am thine only mother,

Nor will affection let me

Believe thou canst forget me.

Then – thou in heaven and I on earth,

May this one hope delight us.

That thou wilt hail my second birth,

When death shall reunite us

Where worlds no more can sever

Parent and child forever.

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- Fanny Crosby

Safe in the arms of Jesus,

Safe from corroding care,

Safe from the world’s temptations,

Sin cannot harm them there.