YES, mother, fifty years have fled, With rapid footsteps o'er thy head; Have pass'd with all their motley train, And left thee on thy couch of pain! How many smiles, and sighs, and tears, How many hopes, and doubts, and fears, Have vanish'd with that lapse of years! Though past, those hours of pain and grief Have left their trace on memory's leaf, Have stamp'd their footprints on the heart, In lines which never can depart; Their influence on the mind must be As endless as eternity. Years, ages, to oblivion roll, Their memory forms the deathless soul; They leave their impress as they go, And shape the mind for joy or woe! Yes, mother, fifty years have past, And brought thee to their close at last Oh that we all could gaze, like thee, Back on that dark and tideless sea, And 'mid its varied records find A heart at ease with all mankind, A firm and self-approving mind! Grief, that had broken hearts less fine, Hath only served to strengthen thine; Time, that doth chill the fancy's play, Hath kindled thine with purer ray; And stern disease, whose icy dart Hath power to chill the shrinking heart, Has left thine warm with love and truth, As in the halcyon days of youth. Oh! turn not from the meed of praise A daughter's willing justice pays; But greet with smiles of love again This tribute of a daughter's pen. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOMESDAY BOOK: THE GOVERNOR by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE RIGS O' BARLEY by ROBERT BURNS SONNET: 18. ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT by JOHN MILTON SONG by ARTHUR WILLIAM EDGAR O'SHAUGHNESSY AUBADE [OR, A MORNING SONG FOR IMOGEN], FR. CYMBELINE by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE STANZAS WRITTEN IN DEJECTION, NEAR NAPLES by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY A FARM PICTURE by WALT WHITMAN SONG, FR. A VISION OF GIORGIONE: GEMMA'S SONG ON THE WAY by GORDON BOTTOMLEY |