Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By II. In Paradise ReposingRichard Frederick Littledale (18331890)
I
By Life’s eternal well,
The tender lambs of Jesus
In greenest pastures dwell.
Aglow with brightest gem,
Bedeck the baby Martyrs
Who died in Bethlehem.
Of children undefiled,
Who passed through mortal torments
For love of Christ the Child.
With them in joyous mirth,
Are all the stainless infants
Which since have gone from earth.
Their fellows now in grace,
With them, in love adoring,
See God the Father’s Face.
In that eternal rest,
Is sweet angelic singing,
Their nurse God’s Mother blest:
In Nazareth of old,
Now bendeth o’er the younglings
Within that happy fold.
Who tenderly dost bear
The lambs in Thine own Bosom,
Bring us to join them there.