Mrs. Hemans.
There was silence deep and deathlike, as the silence of the tomb,
Save when a startling sigh was heard, in that funereal room,
Where lay a lovely cherub boy, smiling as if in sleep;
It was the smile that comes with death, and whispers, “Do not weep,
When those you love are snatch’d away from earth and all its cares;”
O, is it strange a smile should be the last farewell to tears?
He was a cherish’d only son, that fair and noble boy,
His father and his mother saw in him their pride and joy;
And he was bright and beautiful, ev’n to a stranger’s eye,