Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A HEART'S PROTEST, by ETHEL OSBORN HILL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A HEART'S PROTEST, by                    
First Line: Long years to raise my little brood I strove
Last Line: I am not old -- nor am I through with life.
Subject(s): Mothers; Widows & Widowers


Long years to raise my little brood I strove,
Gave up all thought of self -- or sex -- or love.
Since God took from me, in their tender youth,
The father of my bairns, in very truth
I lived for them alone. What toil! What strife!
What ceaseless care -- to make carefree their life.

Now they are grown and think me through with life -- and old --
Needing but food -- clothes -- shelter from the cold.

They cannot know that mutely, fierce and wild,
My heart cries out for love. Not that of friend or child,
But every woman's right -- a true kind mate --
One who would walk with me to Heaven's gate
Or to Perdition's door, and would not care
That gone are youth's light charms, and grey my hair --
One who would look within, as on a scroll,
And read the love and beauty of my soul,
And understand that 'spite of years of strife,
I am not old -- nor am I through with Life.





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