Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ONE THING WANTING, by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ONE THING WANTING, by                 Poet Analysis    
First Line: Your life was hard with mangling clothes
Last Line: "there's nothing else I want on earth."
Alternate Author Name(s): Davies, W. H.
Subject(s): Mothers


"YOUR life was hard with mangling clothes,
You scrubbed our floors for years;
But now, your children are so good,
That you can rest your poor old limbs,
And want for neither drink nor meat."
"It's true," she said, and laughed for joy;
And still her voice, with all her years,
Could make a song-bird wonder if
A rival sweetness challenged him.
But soon her face was full of trouble:
"If I could only tear," she said,
"My sister Alice out of her grave --
Who taunted me when I was poor --
And make her understand these words:
'See, I have everything I want,
My children, Alice, are so good' --
If I could only once do that,
There's nothing else I want on earth."





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