GIVEN AND TAKEN.

The snow-flakes were softly falling

Adown on the landscape white,

When the violet eyes of my first born

Opened unto the light;

And I thought as I pressed him to me,

With loving, rapturous thrill,

He was pure and fair as the snow-flakes

That lay on the landscape still.

I smiled when they spoke of the weary

Length of the winter's night,

Of the days so short and so dreary,

Of the sun's cold cheerless light —

I listened, but in their murmurs

Nor by word nor thought took part,

For the smiles of my gentle darling

Brought light to my home and heart.

Oh! quickly the joyous springtime

Came back to our ice-bound earth,

Filling meadows and woods with sunshine,

And hearts with gladsome mirth,

But, ah! on earth's dawning beauty

There rested a gloomy shade,

For our tiny household blossom

Began to droop and fade.

And I, shuddering, felt that the frailest

Of the flowers in the old woods dim

Had a surer hold on existence

Than I dared to hope for him.

In the flush of the summer's beauty

On a sunny, golden day,

When flowers gemmed dell and upland,

My darling passed away.

Now I chafed at the brilliant sunshine

That flooded my lonely room,

Now I wearied of bounteous Nature,

So full of life and bloom;

I regretted the wintry hours

With the snow-flakes falling fast,

And the little form of my nursling

With his arms around me cast.

They laid his tiny garment

In an attic chamber high,

His coral, his empty cradle,

That they might not meet my eye;

And his name was never uttered,

What e'er each heart might feel,

For they wished the wound in my bosom

Might have tune to close and heal.

It has done so thanks to that Power

That has been my earthly stay,

And should you talk of my darling,

I could listen now all day,

For I know that each passing minute

Brings me nearer life's last shore,

And nearer that glorious Kingdom

Where we both shall meet once more!