Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BAPTISM OF AN INFANT AT ITS MOTHER'S FUNERAL, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Whence is that trembling of a father's hand Last Line: Be wafted from the minstrelsy of heaven. Subject(s): Baptism; Stillbirth; Christenings; Death - Childbirth | ||||||||
WHENCE is that trembling of a father's hand, Who to the man of God doth bring his babe, Asking the seal of Christ? -- Why doth the voice That uttereth o'er its brow the Triune Name Falter with sympathy? -- And most of all, Why is yon coffin-lid a pedestal For the baptismal font? Again I asked. But all the answer was those gushing tears Which stricken hearts do weep. For there she lay, The fair, young mother in that coffin-bed, Mourned by the funeral train. The heart that beat With trembling tenderness, at every touch Of love of pity, flushed the cheek no more. -- Tears were thy baptism, thou unconscious one, And Sorrow took thee at the gate of life, Into her cradle. Thou may'st never know The welcome of a nursing mother's kiss, When lost in wondering ecstacy, she marks A thrilling growth of new affections spread Fresh greenness o'er her soul. Thou may'st not share Her hallowed teachings, nor suffuse her eye With joy, as the first germs of infant thought Unfold, in lisping sound. Yet may'st thou walk Even as she walked, breathing on all around The warmth of high affections purified, And sublimated, by that Spirit's power Which makes the soul fit temple for its God. -- So shalt thou, in a brighter world, behold That countenance which the cold grave did veil Thus early from thy sight, and the first tone Bearing a mother's welcome to thine ear Be wafted from the minstrelsy of Heaven. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: ELIZABETH CHILDERS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS ANNIVERSARY by PRIMUS ST. JOHN STILLBIRTH by LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR THE FAIREST THING IN MORTAL EYES by CHARLES D'ORLEANS AN ODE UPON A QUESTION WHETHER LOVE SHOULD CONTINUE FOREVER by EDWARD HERBERT OBEDIENCE OF THE CORPSE by CAROLYN D. WRIGHT STILL LIFE by ANNE MILLAY BREMER COLUMBUS [JANUARY, 1487] by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY |
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