“I’ll lend you for a little time,
A child of mine,” God said;
“For you to love the while he lives,
And mourn for when he’s dead.
It may be four or five years,
Or twenty-two or three
But will you, ’till I call him back
Take care of him for Me?
He’ll bring his charms to gladden you,
And shall his stay be brief
You’ll have his lovely memories,
As solace for your grief
I cannot promise he will stay,
Since all from earth return
But there are lessons taught down there,
I want this child to learn
I’ve looked in the wide world over
In my search for teachers true,
And from the throngs that crowd life’s lane,
I have selected you,
Now will you give him all your love,
Not think the labor vain,
Nor hate me when I come
To take him back again?
I fancied that I heard them say:
‘Dear Lord, Thy will be done!
For all the joy Thy child shall bring,
The risk of grief we’ll run.
We’ll shelter him while we may,
And for all the happiness we’ve known,
Forever grateful stay.
But shall the angels call him
Much sooner than we’ve planned,
We’ll brave the bitter grief that comes,
And surely understand.’
– – – written by Edgar A. Guest
Wanted this poem for a friend who has lost two sons in a matter of months, althought the boys were grown to her they were her babies.
This poem is by Edgar A. Guest in 1930. Please give credit to the author.
I lost a baby 49 years ago when he was 4 months old. Someone gave this peom to me and i never forgot it and now i am passing it on to someone who just lost their little boy today
When my son was born 40 years ago they gave this away as a poster. I kept it in his baby book. When he died six years ago of a heart attack in his sleep I found it again. It was very helpful to me to know that God told me when he was born that he was ‘on loan’. I am glad to see the author’s name because it said “author unknown” on mine.
yes, i too have a copy with ‘unknown author’… but i see above there IS an author. so glad credit is given.
My girlfriend lost her husband very tragically this week. Her sister told me about this poem and how she wished she had a copy to give her. Found it very easily and am forever grateful for the posting so I can now pass it along to her. God Bless!
Wanted to print this out but couldn’t get rid of the Google Ad in the middle of the poem!!
What a shame cuz the way its presented with the picture at the top would have been
so special to send!!
Hi Rosemarie,
Please use the “print this article” icon in the icons list right under the title of this article so that you can print it without anything in between the content.
Thank You,
Georgy