FATE gave the word, the arrow sped, <br />And pierc'd my darling's heart; <br />And with him all the joys are fled <br />Life can to me impart. <br /> <br /> <br />By cruel hands the sapling drops, <br />In dust dishonour'd laid; <br />So fell the pride of all my hopes, <br />My age's future shade. <br /> <br /> <br />The mother-linnet in the brake <br />Bewails her ravish'd young; <br />So I, for my lost darling's sake, <br />Lament the live-day long. <br /> <br /> <br />Death, oft I've feared thy fatal blow. <br />Now, fond, I bare my breast; <br />O, do thou kindly lay me low <br />With him I love, at rest!<br /><br />Robert Burns<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-mother-s-lament-for-her-son-s-death/
