Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONGS FOR MY MOTHER: 4. HER STORIES, by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONGS FOR MY MOTHER: 4. HER STORIES, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I always liked to go to bed
Last Line: And dim as lavender.
Subject(s): Mothers


I always liked to go to bed --
It looked so dear and white.
Besides, my mother used to tell
A story every night.
When other children cried to go
I did not mind at all,
She made such faery pageants grow
Upon the bedroom wall.
The room was full of slumber lights,
Of seas and ships and wings,
Of Holy Grails and swords and knights
And beautiful, kind kings.
And so she wove and wove and wove
Her singing thoughts through mine.
I heard them murmuring through my sleep,
Sweet, audible, and fine.
Beneath my pillow all night long
I heard her stories sing,
So spun through the enchanted sheet
Was their soft shadowing.
Dear custom, stronger than the years --
Then let me not grow dull!
Still every night my bed appears
Friendly and beautiful!
Even now, when I lie down to sleep,
It comes like a caress,
And still somehow my childish heart
Expects a pleasantness.
I find in the remembering sheets
Old stories, told by her,
And they are sweet as rosemary
And dim as lavender.






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