The Only Boy

Though heaven has gained one angel more,My heart, dear God, is wondrous sore;For that bright angel Thou hast wonWas my sweet lamb, my only son.

How shall an earthly mother bearSuch awful anguish and despair?How shall she live, and living, knowSuch depths of overwhelming woe?

Without Thy aid, dear God, my soulIs shipwrecked in a sea of dole.Without Thy rescuing hand, I sinkBeyond the world’s absymal brink.

He was my pride, my hope, my joy—Ah, bitterest thought, my only boy!And now, while night-winds madly raveMy heart is buried in his grave.

Too much I worshiped him, perchanceToo much I drifted from Thy glance.Thou art a jealous God, and ThouHast put Thy crown upon my brow.

I pass beneath Thy rod; I prayTo find salvation’s thorny way—I care not boy what pangs beguiled,So it but lead me to my child.

Ah, blessed thought to know that heIs safe from sin and misery;That, in the young May of his life,He fell unsullied in the strife.

I treasure up his image fair,I kiss his tress of shining hair,Thrilling to hope, in heaven, that heWill be “the first to welcome me.”

Within Thy sheltering arms, I placeMy idol, glorified by grace;And, with the dear ones left, my eyesGaze through the gates of Paradise.