Beyond the star-dust and the ether-flaw Where truth first folds her wings I reached the empty quiet, whence I saw The little sum of things. An atom in a wreath of fiery smoke Slow curling through that dark, The faint Earth quivered, as if tears would choke The glimmer of its spark. The earnest silence of the heavens' war Mine eyes could not abide, And throbbing to the pulses of my star The heart within me cried: O Mother, from thy womb my body came, Thy labour was my birth, My spirit's fire was kindled at thy flame, Thine am I, Mother Earth! What do I here, an augur of thy death, Who live but by thy life? Oh, I will haste, and pay my debt of breath, A weapon in thy strife! I will take water to the drooping fern, Unyoke the sweating steers, The swords of brothers from their bosoms turn, And dry thy children's tears. I know, dear Mother, that thine hour is nigh; My service saves not thee: But blessed are thy children, if they die To ease thine agony. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SHEPHEARDES CALENDER: FEBRUARY by EDMUND SPENSER A BALLADE OF LAWN TENNIS by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE CLOUDS: THE OLD EDUCATION by ARISTOPHANES SHE BEGINING TO STUDY PHISICK ... FALLS INTO A DEGRESSION ON ANATOMY by JANE BARKER TO MRS W. ON HER EXCELLENT VERSES WRITTEN IN A FIT OF SICKNESS by APHRA BEHN AUTUMN SUNSET ON THE SIERRA NEVADAS by DOROTHY BOARDMAN |