Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MOTHER WONDER, by FLORA SHUFELT RIVOLA First Line: I have washed their clothes and their faces Last Line: I wonder! Subject(s): Children; Good; Hearts; Mothers; Parents; Childhood; Parenthood | ||||||||
I have washed their clothes and their faces And their lithe, round limbs And sent them off to school. I wonder if I have washed their hearts clean? All the heart-cleaning water I had Was rained into a black-lined barrel Burned out through the ages, I being a drop-saver like my forbears. And the soapit may have been made of fat too old And lye too keen biting; The linen rag my great-great-grandmother wove From flax she raised on fresh-broken ground. I tried to wash their hearts clean with these. They looked cleanwhat I could see of them Shining from their happy eyes, I looking with my dimmed, mother-proud ones Half-full of tears. I wonder! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY PARENTS HAVE COME HOME LAUGHING by MARK JARMAN BIRTHDAY (AUTOBIOGRAPHY) by ROBINSON JEFFERS LOOKING IN AT NIGHT by MARY KINZIE THE VELVET HAND by PHYLLIS MCGINLEY CURRICULUM VITAE by LISEL MUELLER CIVILIZING THE CHILD by LISEL MUELLER MISSING THE DEAD by LISEL MUELLER A PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING FOR THE SOUL OF AN ECCENTRIC MAN by FLORA SHUFELT RIVOLA |
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