Classic Poem

AN angel came
And stood beside the cradle of a child
And spoke its name;
And near by lay the mother, sleep-beguiled,
A little space to sorrow reconciled.

His whisper woke
The babe, who feared not at the gracious sight,
And smiles outbroke
Upon its infant face, and sweet and bright
His answering smile made shining in the night.

Gently he took,
As with a father's care, the fatherless,
And let it look
On her who lay in widowed loneliness
Half-happy in some dreamed-of, dead caress.

There he instilled
In it the knowledge of her motherhood
Forever filled
With love, and care, and quick solicitude,
Guarding from evil, guiding into good.

And having trained
The infant-lips to voice that darling name
That lives unstained
Beyond all speech of blessing or of blame,
He passed away in silence as he came.

At break of day
The babe awoke upon its mother's breast,
And as it lay
Called her that dearest name. And she confessed
The Lord is God who makes affliction blessed.