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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO A BEREAVED MOTHER, by                    
First Line: Oh, say not that your little son is dead
Last Line: Is your ambassador.
Alternate Author Name(s): Daly, T. A.
Subject(s): Death - Children; Grief; Mothers; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness


OH, say not that your little son is dead;
The word too harsh and much too hopeless seems,
Believe, instead,
That he has left his little trundle bed
To climb the hills
Of morning, and to share the joy that fills
God's pleasant land of dreams.

Nay, say not that your little son is dead.
It is not right, because it is not true.
Believe, instead,
He has but gone the way that you must tread,
And, smiling, waits
In loving ambush by those pearly gates,
To laugh and leap at you.

No knight that does you service can be dead,
Nor idle is this young knight gone before.
Believe, instead,
Upon an envoy's mission he hath sped
That doth import
Your greatest good; for he at heaven's court
Is your ambassador.





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