Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SEVEN TIMES SIX [ - GIVING IN MARRIAGE], by JEAN INGELOW Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: To bear, to nurse, to rear Last Line: To love -- and then to lose. Subject(s): Home; Marriage; Mothers; Weddings; Husbands; Wives | ||||||||
TO bear, to nurse, to rear, To watch, and then to lose: To see my bright ones disappear, Drawn up like morning dews; -- To bear, to nurse, to rear, To watch, and then to lose: This have I done when God drew near Among his own to choose. To hear, to heed, to wed, And with thy lord depart In tears that he, as soon as shed, Will let no longer smart. -- To hear, to heed, to wed, This while thou didst I smiled, For now it was not God who said, "Mother, give ME thy child." O fond, O fool, and blind, To God I gave with tears; But, when a man like grace would find, My soul put by her fears. O fond, O fool, and blind, God guards in happier spheres; That man will guard where he did bind Is hope for unknown years. To hear, to heed, to wed, Fair lot that maidens choose, Thy mother's tenderest words are said, Thy face no more she views; Thy mother's lot, my dear, She doth in naught accuse; Her lot to bear, to nurse, to rear, To love -- and then to lose. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A BLESSING FOR A WEDDING by JANE HIRSHFIELD A SUITE FOR MARRIAGE by DAVID IGNATOW ADVICE TO HER SON ON MARRIAGE by MARY BARBER THE RABBI'S SON-IN-LAW by SABINE BARING-GOULD KISSING AGAIN by DORIANNE LAUX A TIME PAST by DENISE LEVERTOV ECHO AND THE FERRY by JEAN INGELOW GLADYS AND HER ISLAND; AN IMPERFECT TALE WITH DOUBTFUL MORAL by JEAN INGELOW |
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