"The Little Child that Went Away"

The Little Child that Went Away

The little, little child that went away 
From us that loved him, us that miss him so 
God, fold him warmly in thy tender arms 
These bitter nights beneath the snow. 

Years pass us by; sometimes we half forget 
The little lad who went so long ago; 
But with the first sob of the winter's rain, 
And with the first fall of the snow, 

Oh, then, oh, then we bow ourselves and weep, 
The old grief fresh; it seems but yesterday 
We knelt in tears to kiss the little lad 
Good-by, and let him go away. 

The summer lures us; lo! the slender brook 
Winds thro' the valley, noted like a song; 
When trees are budding and the flowers bloom, 
Oh, then we cannot sorrow long. 

But when the winter huddles from the North, 
And drives the sudden snow across the plain, 
When long icicles fringe the eaves, and loud 
The wind is moaning at the pane, 

We look thro' tears across the night and see 
The little grave so slender and so low. . . .
God, fold him warmly in thy tender arms 
These bitter nights beneath the snow.


"The Little Child that Went Away" as it appears in Ella Higginson's The Voice of April-Land and Other Poems (1903).


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