Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, GOOD-NIGHT MOTHER, by GRACE DENIO LITCHFIELD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

GOOD-NIGHT MOTHER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Good-night, mother. Thou dost sleep
Last Line: Thine the slumber; mine, the night.
Subject(s): Death; Farewell; Sleep; Dead, The; Parting


GOOD-NIGHT, Mother. Thou dost sleep,
While my lonely watch I keep.
Suns blaze brightly overhead;
Moons pass by with silver tread;
Night and day, and day and night
Alternate with shade and light.
But I know no change. To me
All is dark apart from thee.
Lost my life its whole of light,
When I bade thee, dear, good-night.

Good-night, Mother dear, good-night.
Soft thy slumbers be and light.
Though I call thee through the years—
Call with passion of wild tears—
May no dream of my unrest
Cross the quiet of thy breast;
May no memory of me,
Agonised on earth for thee,
Come to grieve thee or affright.
Good-night, Mother dear, Good-night.

Good-night, oh, my dearest. Sleep.
God hide from thee that I weep.
Sleep, sleep, Mother, while I wake
Life's long night through for thy sake,
Bound up heart and soul and brain
In a timeless stretch of pain—
In a blank mid-night of sorrow
That has neither moon nor morrow.
God so wills. It must be right.
Thine the slumber; mine, the night.





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