Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A WOMAN OF PARIS, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A WOMAN OF PARIS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Retreating towards the marne, his regiment
Last Line: While women such as she are at its portal!
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean
Subject(s): Death; Fathers & Sons; France; Marriage; Soldiers; War; Dead, The; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


RETREATING towards the Marne, his regiment
Would pass at morn a neighboring suburb through;
And thither walked his glad young wife, intent
To see her soldier, strong and brave and true;
And in her arms, or pattering with light feet
Beside her steps, she held her baby boy —
O the proud moment when his eyes should greet
Their little Victor brimming o'er with joy!

Upon the curb she stood as past they filed,
When something barred the way and, unawares,
The march a moment stayed; then wife and child
Saw, in the line, the father's friend and theirs —
Christophe, the corporal, who quickly spied
The eager wife he knew as girl and bride,
And, springing from the ranks, he seized her arm:
'Courage, courage, Madame! Your husband fell
Yesterday, by my side, at Maux.'... Ah, well ...
Ah, well ... her eyelids closed, her heart stood still ...
What joy henceforth can wile, what grief can harm! ...
Then swift above her head, with deathless will
She raised her boy, presenting him, and cried,
For all her anguish, 'Vive la France!' A thrill
Ran through the throng, and with the line's advance
Cheers filled the morning sky for her and France
As if no soldier in his place had died! —
For France, secure, invincible, immortal,
While women such as she are at its portal!





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