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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A STREET MOTHER, by WILLIAM ROSE BENET Poet's Biography
First Line: My eyes were staring high
Last Line: Swooned at her feet!
Subject(s): Courage; Desire; Mothers; Valor; Bravery
First Line: My eyes were staring high
Last Line: Swooned at her feet!
Subject(s): Courage; Desire; Mothers; Valor; Bravery
My eyes were staring high
Aloft for dreams of rapture and of awe,
And she—she passed me by
Before I saw!
A roaring gulch of fire
The street,—and brilliant stars possessed its skies.
But purer with their passionate desire,
Her dauntless eyes!
The profile calm and strong,
Yet wistful with the hint of alien race ...
Oh, like a battle-song
Her thrilling face!
The coarse, dark hair above the tawdry shawl,
The mothering bosom where her baby clung,—
And all the burden of her life, with all
Her blood so young!
Her face uplifted in the blue arc-light,
She moved with that high courage none would mark,—
Turned at the corner, wonderful and bright
Against the dark,—
And, as her grave lips parted, and her eyes
Sought her child's eyes with whispers soft and sweet,
All the proud stars, the vast imperial skies
Swooned at her feet!
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Other Poems of Interest...
UNLESS IT WAS COURAGE by MARVIN BELL
THE QUALITY OF COURAGE by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET
ON THE OREGON COAST; FOR WILLIAM STAFFORD by ROBERT BLY
WORDS WITH WALLACE STEVENS by ROBERT BLY
BUFFALO CLOUDS OVER THE MAESTRO HOON by NORMAN DUBIE
A SONG OF COURAGE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON
THE AUDACIOUS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON
OH, THE WATER by DORIANNE LAUX