Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

Henry Vaughan (1621–1695)

The Burial of an Infant

BLEST infant bud, whose blossom-life

Did only look about, and fall

Wearied out in a harmless strife

Of tears, and milk, the food of all;

Sweetly didst thou expire: thy soul

Flew home unstain’d by his new kin;

For ere thou knew’st how to be foul,

Death wean’d thee from the world, and sin.

Softly rest all thy virgin-crumbs

Lapt in the sweets of thy young breath,

Expecting till thy Saviour comes

To dress them, and unswaddle death!