Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A MOTHER'S SONG, by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH Poet's Biography First Line: I have not yet known mother's grief Last Line: I rock him on my knee. Subject(s): Mothers | ||||||||
I HAVE not yet known Mother's grief For I can comfort thee. Child, I can smile above the tears So swiftly eased by me. I know in time my son shall grow Beyond his Mother's ken. And half a stranger he will go Among the world of men. Then shall I know a Mother's grief -- His separate bitterness. My heart will break if his must ache With wounds I cannot guess. 'T is little pain to bear a child Beside this other woe. To feel the helplessness to soothe The want that grieves him so. (I hear a man cry in the dark, He journeys on alone.) Lie close, lie close, my little son, While yet thou art my own. (His heart is broken by stranger hands, I may not give him rest.) My darling one, my child, my Son! I hold thee on my breast. (The heart in him is sick with need, For help I may not give.) Perchance the smiles I spend on thee May help that stranger live. (Unhoused, along a barren road, I bear a pilgrim weep.) But in his heart is the little song That sings thee now to sleep. (The bitter brand of this world's shame Is sealed upon his brow.) But in his hand is a New Name -- The kiss I give thee now! For when my child is grown -- is grown -- He'll get this help from me, That now, while he is all my own, I rock him on my knee. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY MOTHER'S HANDS by ANDREW HUDGINS CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS IN THE 25TH YEAR OF MY MOTHER'S DEATH by JUDY JORDAN THE PAIDLIN' WEAN by ALEXANDER ANDERSON BLASTING FROM HEAVEN by PHILIP LEVINE SONGS FOR MY MOTHER: 2. HER HANDS by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH |
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