The Toy Cross by Roden Berkeley Wriothesley Noel. Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. 1895. A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

The Toy Cross

Roden Berkeley Wriothesley Noel (1834–94)


MY little boy at Christmastide
Made me a toy cross;
Two sticks he did, in boyish pride,
With brazen nail emboss.

Ah me! how soon, on either side	5
His dying bed’s true cross,
She and I were crucified,
Bemoaning our lifeloss!

But He, whose arms in death spread wide
Upon the holy tree,	10
Were clasp’d about him when he died—
Clasp’d for eternity!