Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AFTER A MOTHER'S DEATH, by ELIZA COOK


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AFTER A MOTHER'S DEATH, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They told me, in my earlier years
Last Line: A mother die: I'm silent now.
Subject(s): Death - Mothers; Dead, The


They told me, in my earlier years,
Life was a dark and tangled web;
A gloomy sea of bitter tears,
Where sorrow's influx had no ebb.

But such was vainly taught and said,
My laugh rung out with joyous tone;
The woof possessed one brilliant thread,
Of rainbow colours, all my own.

They talked of trials, sighs, and grief,
And called the world a wilderness,
Where dazzling bud or fragrant leaf
But rarely sprung to cheer and bless.

But there was one dear precious flower
Engrafted in my bosom's core,
Which made my home an Eden bower,
And caused a doubt if heaven held more.

I boasted -- till a mother's grave
Was heaped and sodded -- then I found
The sunshine stricken from the wave,
And all the golden thread unwound.

Where was the flower I had worn
So fondly, closely, in my heart?
The bloom was crushed, the root was torn,
And left a cureless, bleeding part.

Preach on who will -- say "Life is sad,"
I'll not refute as once I did;
You'll find the eye that beamed so glad
Will hide a tear beneath its lid.

Preach on of wo; the time hath been
I'd praise the world with shadeless brow
The dream is broken -- I have seen
A mother die: I'm silent now.





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