My Sleeping Child

An ode to the children who sleep in death. {Victorian Book of the Dead}

My
Sleeping
Child
.........


Sit with me
my little child
the way you have
always done before

Sit with me
my beloved child
for although you
are sleeping
you are no more

Stay with me
my sleeping child
as I hold you gently
this one last time

For within
the portrait
you will be,

sleeping,
like a child
sublime

I see those features
upon your cheeks -
the ones you always
had before

I see your hands
now covered in lace
that are gently folded
forevermore

I see the smile
you hold
in death

the way you
always smiled
in life

For death did not
dare to deprive
the essence of
your soul -
though I be bereft

And so we
are pictured
forevermore

And through
the years
they will gaze
upon us

Let them not forget
my sleeping child
that even I, your Father,
will be just dust

My love for you
will linger on
but reunited
we will be
you see

not in our
physical bodies
we had

but forevermore
in spirit
for eternity...


Copyright
{c}2010
Wayne Leon Learmond
My Sleeping Child
All Rights Reserved