Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Roden Berkeley Wriothesley Noel 1834–94

The Toy Cross

MY little boy at Christmastide

Made me a toy cross;

Two sticks he did, in boyish pride,

With brazen nail emboss.

Ah me! how soon, on either side

His dying bed’s true cross,

She and I were crucified,

Bemoaning our lifeloss!

But He, whose arms in death spread wide

Upon the holy tree,

Were clasp’d about him when he died—

Clasp’d for eternity!