Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE MOTHER'S SACRIFICE, by SEBA SMITH First Line: The cold winds swept the mountain's height Last Line: The babe looked up and sweetly smiled! Alternate Author Name(s): Downing, Major Jack Variant Title(s): The Mother In The Snow-storm Subject(s): Children; Mothers; Sacrifices; Storms; Childhood | ||||||||
THE cold winds swept the mountain's height, And pathless was the dreary wild, And mid the cheerless hours of night A mother wandered with her child: As through the drifting snow she pressed, The babe was sleeping on her breast. And colder still the winds did blow, And darker hours of night came on, And deeper grew the drifting snow: Her limbs were chilled, her strength was gone. "O God!" she cried in accents wild, "If I must perish, save my child!" She stripped her mantle from her breast, And bared her bosom to the storm, And round the child she wrapped the vest, And smiled to think her babe was warm. With one cold kiss, one tear she shed, And sunk upon her snowy bed. At dawn a traveller passed by, And saw her 'neath a snowy veil; The frost of death was in her eye, Her cheek was cold and hard and pale. He moved the robe from off the child, -- The babe looked up and sweetly smiled! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE THE POET AT SEVEN by DONALD JUSTICE TUNK (A LECTURE ON MODERN EDUCATION) by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON |
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