THE DEAD BABE by Eugene Field

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · May 9, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 19.

THE DEAD BABE.

By Eugene Field

LAST night, as my dear babe lay dead, In agony I knelt and said: "O God! what have I done, Or in what wise offended Thee, That Thou shouldst take away from me My little son? Upon the thousand useless lives, Upon the guilt that, vaunting, thrives, Thy wrath were better spent. Why shouldst thou take my little son? Why shouldst Thou vent Thy wrath upon This innocent?"

Last night, as my dear babe lay dead, Before mine eyes the vision spread Of things that might have been; Licentious riot, cruel strife, Forgotten prayers, a wasted life Dark red with sin.

Then, with soft music in the air, I saw another vision there; A Shepherd, in whose keep A little lamb, my little child, Of worldly wisdom undefiled, Lay fast asleep.

Last night, as my dear babe lay dead, In those two messages I read A wisdom manifest; And, tho my arms be childless now, I am content; to Him I bow Who knoweth best. —Eugene Field.