Sarah

by Hannah Flagg Gould

She had not breathed this world's inclement air
Till it had chilled, or touched her with a blight.
She had not lived till sorrow, pain, or care
Had marked her brow, or dimmed her spirit's light.

Beauty and health hung round her infant form.
Ten hasty summers had not o'er her flown.
Her guileless heart was happy, pure and warm;
And she believed all others like her own.

She was a shining creature God had lent
This world awhile, too holy to be given!
And SARAH knew that she was only sent
To visit earth, and that her home was heaven.

And, finding much to lure and bind her here,
She smiled on all around her, while within,
Her little angel bosom felt a fear,
Lest thoughts might enter with the stain of sin.

The things of time, the flowery fields of earth
Had much to charm; to win her childish love:
But still she doubted if they all were worth
The brighter scenes that she should find above.

She therefore made her young and tender heart
A morning off'ring for her God to keep;
So that, if summoned early to depart,
Upon his bosom she might fall asleep.

Some spirit-messenger of his had come,
But none knew how, or when, to Sarah's ear,
And told her she had nearly filled the sum
Of days allotted for her being here!

She startled not at this. The warning word,
That told the little listener she must die,
Without surprise, without dismay was heard;
It filled with purer light her joyful eye.

She only sought to soothe her weeping friends,
Assuring them, that she was now to go
Where, but to enter, were to make amends
For more than all that man can leave below.

She fell asleep! The gently fleeting breath
Left her young spirit on a seraph's wing,
Triumphant o'er the grave! The angel Death,
To her, had neither terrors or a sting!

She was a blessed creature God had sent
To show what love and beauty dwell on high,
Upon a kind, a holy errand bent;
To win our love and lure us to the sky!