Dead Child, The. By Dowson, Ernest Christopher. Sleep on, dear, now The last sleep and the best, And on thy brow, And on thy quiet breast, Violets I throw. Thy scanty years Were mine a little while; Life had no fears To trouble thy brief smile With toil or tears. Lie still, and be For evermore a child! Not grudgingly, Whom life has not defiled, I render thee. Slumber so deep, No man would rashly wake; I hardly weep, Fain only, for thy sake, To share thy sleep.