I saw my darling in calm slumber lying,
His still, pale face, so beautiful in death,
So like sweet sleep, that hushed from tears and sighing,
I looked and listened for his gentle breath.

His little hands, so white and thin, were folded,
Clasping the purest flowers that love could bring;
Never was marble in such beauty moulded –
God and death only make so fair a thing!

I felt, in awe, that God and death were present;
I felt the presence of the world unseen –
This life so poor, so vain, so evanescent;
And that so grand, so holy and serene.

I thought how God rejoiceth in His creatures,
How He must love the beauty He hath made,
Why should He suffer death to touch those features?
Why let such graces in the dust be laid?

Nay, but what affluence of power breathing
Must be the Maker’s on his kingly throne!
What consciousness of right, thus calmly waiting
For His own time to let his ways be known!

Yes! all the ills which in this life we suffer,
Yea! all the clouds which our sad hearts do raise,
In those calm moments only seemed to offer
Fresh reason for our confidence and praise.

Because He seemed so high, so wise, so holy,
And we so ignorant of our own needs,
Mistaking good for ill; I thanked Him solely
That so above us were His ways and deeds!

And join that room of death my soul drew nearer
To the great presence of the things unseen;
The deep, dark mystery if life grew clearer,
Until on life and death I looked sereene.

And looked serene upon that lovely sleeper,
Kissed the pale face which silently had taut
That death and sorrow bring us knowledge deeper,
And deeper joy than this dear life had brought.

So I gave up my babe’s sweet, warm caresses,
And laid him from my breast beneath the sod;
My arms are empty, but my soul he blesses,
And when I long for him I trust in God.

Author: Unknown
(from the N. Y. Observer)

Signs of the Times
Volume 28, Number 17; September 1, 1860

Below are the songs that were made from the poem using AI. They are identified
by the genre of the music in paranthesis.