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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HILL MOTHER, by EDWIN CARLILE LITSEY Poet's Biography
First Line: Barefoot she goes about her endless task
Last Line: A light that's shared by cotter and by queen.
Alternate Author Name(s): Litsey, E. Carl Edwin Carlile
Subject(s): Mothers
First Line: Barefoot she goes about her endless task
Last Line: A light that's shared by cotter and by queen.
Alternate Author Name(s): Litsey, E. Carl Edwin Carlile
Subject(s): Mothers
Barefoot she goes about her endless task,
Her life a daily crucifixion. Pain
Has grown so common she does not complain,
But on her face is stamped its awful mask.
Flat-breasted, stooped, with hair like grass sun-dried,
She keeps the house, cuts wood, and hoes the corn.
One child a year, and sometimes two are born,
And always there's another in her side.
Yet to her leaden eyes when twilight comes,
And ragged mites are trooping through the door;
When dusty feet are thumping on the floor,
And the poor place with shout and clamor hums,
There leaps a light which nowhere else is seen.
A light that's shared by cotter and by queen.
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THE PAIDLIN' WEAN by ALEXANDER ANDERSON
BLASTING FROM HEAVEN by PHILIP LEVINE
A PAUPER ENTERS HEAVEN by EDWIN CARLILE LITSEY