Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MY FATHER'S CHILD, by GERTRUDE BLOEDE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MY FATHER'S CHILD, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: About her head or floating feet
Last Line: Passed into paradise.
Alternate Author Name(s): Sterne, Stuart
Subject(s): Mothers; Heaven; Paradise


ABOUT her head or floating feet
No halo's starry gleam,
Still dark and swift uprising, like
A bubble in a stream, --

A soul, from whose rejoicing heart
The bonds of earth were riven,
Sped upward through the silent night
To the closed Gates of Heaven.

And waiting heard a voice, -- "Who comes
To claim Eternity?
Hero or saint that bled and died
Mankind to save and free?"

She bent her head. The voice once more, --
"Didst thou then toil and live
For home and children -- to thy Love
Last breath and heart's blood give?"

Her head sank lower still, she clasped
Her hands upon her breast:
"Oh, no!" she whispered, "my dim life
Has never been so blest!

"I trod a lonely, barren path,
And neither great nor good,
Gained not a hero's palm, nor won
The crown of motherhood!

"Oh, I was naught!" Yet suddenly
The white lips faintly smiled --
"Save, oh, methinks I was mayhap
My Heavenly Father's Child!"

A flash of light, a cry of joy,
And with uplifted eyes
The soul, through gates rolled open wide,
Passed into Paradise.





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