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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IN RETROSPECT by MARGARET E. BRUNER

First Line: MY MOTHER ALWAYS KEPT SO MANY
Last Line: THE ONE I NEVER KNEW.
Subject(s): MOTHERS;

My mother always kept so many
Little things like these:
Embroidery from pantalettes
And trimming from chemise,

A ruffle that had once adorned
My great grandfather's breast,
When shirts were stitched by hand and made
With linen of the best.

And looking at this hand-work now,
In retrospect, it seems
Something as dim and far away
As half-forgotten dreams;

And down the shadowy miles of years
I journey till I see
My mother, young and golden-haired,
Just as she used to be,

Untouched by time, with nimble hands
That made each stitch so true,
The mother who was mine, and yet
The one I never knew.



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