Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MOTHERHOOD, by AGNES LEE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MOTHERHOOD, by                    
First Line: Mother of christ long slain, forth glided she
Last Line: "I am the mother of iscariot."
Alternate Author Name(s): Freer, Otto, Mrs.
Subject(s): Mary. Mother Of Jesus; Mothers; Women In The Bible; Virgin Mary


MOTHER of Christ long slain, forth glided she,
Following the children joyously astir
Under the cedars and the olive-tree,
Pausing to let their laughter float to her.
Each voice an echo of a voice more dear,
She saw a little Christ in every face.
When lo! another woman, passing near,
Yearned o'er the tender life that filled the place,
And Mary sought the woman's hand, and said:
"I know thee not, yet know thee memory-tossed
And what hath led thee here, as I am led--
These bring to thee a child beloved and lost.

"How radiant was my little one!
And He was fair,
Yea fairer than the fairest sun,
And like its rays through amber spun
His sun-bright hair,
Still, I can see it shine and shine!"
"Even so," the woman said, "was mine."
"His ways were ever darling ways,
And Mary smiled,--
"So soft and clinging! Glad relays
Of love were all his precious days--
My little child
Was like an infinite that gleamed."
"Even so was mine," the woman dreamed.

Then whispered Mary: "Tell me, thou
Of thine!" And she:
"Oh, mine was rosy as a bough
Blooming with roses, sent, somehow,
To bloom for me!
His balmy fingers left a thrill
Within my breast that warms me still."

Then gazed she down some wilder, darker hour
And said, when Mary questioned knowing not:
"Who art thou, mother of so sweet a flower?"
"I am the mother of Iscariot."







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