Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MOTHER by WILLARD WATTLES

First Line: SHE LOVED REDBIRDS AND BRIGHT MORNINGS
Last Line: AND GOD'S GREAT MERCY -- BECAUSE OF HER.
Subject(s): CARDINALS (BIRDS); MERCY;

She loved redbirds and bright mornings,
Honeysuckle and sweet spring rose,
Children's laughter and pansy faces,
All brave things that the sunlight knows;
She was frail at the last like lilies,
But her smile was sunshine across the snows.

Music she loved and friendly greetings,
Kind words spoken and ill forgot;
She never faltered at any grievance
Though her heart was hurt and her eyes were hot. . . .
There was nothing honest and wise and merry
And brave and tender that she was not.

Long ago in a lonely garden
Where dim leaves of the olive stir
A young man knelt; but had he never
Died for his truth and been laid in myrrh
I should have heard of the heart's high courage
And God's great mercy -- because of her.



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