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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TRAVELERS by ST. CLAIR ADAMS

First Line: I LIKE TO MEET A GRAY ULYSSES
Last Line: AND EVERY MOTHER HAS WALKED THROUGH HELL.
Subject(s): MOTHERS;
I LIKE to meet a gray Ulysses
Who's wandered o'er this marvelous globe
And faced such scenes of bane and bliss, he's
Arrayed in wisdom--'tis his robe.
He may not tell me what this nation,
That hazard wild, to him has taught;
Yet gleams from him some intimation
Of what in his deep soul's inwrought.

I know one wiser still from travel
Who's ranged beyond the utmost star,
Who can (if any can) unravel
The meanings of the things that are.
Why 'tis that joys and woes so leaven
Our fitful days, her words ne'er tell;
But any mother has crooned in heaven,
And every mother has walked through hell.



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