Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume III. Sorrow and Consolation. 1904. | | | | V. Death and Bereavement | | Après | | Arthur Joseph Munby (1828–1910) |
| | | DOWN, down, Ellen, my little one, | |
| Climbing so tenderly up to my knee; | |
| Why should you add to the thoughts that are taunting me, | |
| Dreams of your mother’s arms clinging to me? | |
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| Cease, cease, Ellen, my little one, | 5 |
| Warbling so fairily close to my ear; | |
| Why should you choose, of all songs that are haunting me, | |
| This that I made for your mother to hear? | |
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| Hush, hush, Ellen, my little one, | |
| Wailing so wearily under the stars; | 10 |
| Why should I think of her tears, that might light to me | |
| Love that had made life, and sorrow that mars? | |
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| Sleep, sleep, Ellen, my little one! | |
| Is she not like her whenever she stirs? | |
| Has she not eyes that will soon be as bright to me, | 15 |
| Lips that will some day be honeyed like hers? | |
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| Yes, yes, Ellen, my little one, | |
| Though her white bosom is stilled in the grave, | |
| Something more white than her bosom is spared to me,— | |
| Something to cling to and something to crave. | 20 |
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| Love, love, Ellen, my little one! | |
| Love indestructible, love undefiled, | |
| Love through all deeps of her spirit lies bared to me, | |
| Oft as I look on the face of her child. | | | | |
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