Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE MOTHERS OF THE WEST, by WILLIAM DAVIS GALLAGHER Poet's Biography First Line: The mothers of our forest-land! Last Line: "the dark and bloody ground." Subject(s): Middle West; Pioneers; United States; Women; Midwest; Old Northwest; Central States; North Central States; America | ||||||||
THE Mothers of our Forest-Land! Stout-hearted dames were they; With nerve to wield the battle-brand, And join the border-fray. Our rough land had no braver, In its days of blood and strife -- Aye ready for severest toil, Aye free to peril life. The Mothers of our Forest-Land! On old Kan-tuc-kee's soil, How shared they, with each dauntless band, War's tempest and Life's toil! They shrank not from the foeman, -- They quailed not in the fight, -- But cheered their husbands through the day, And soothed them through the night. The Mothers of our Forest-Land! Their bosoms pillowed men! And proud were they by such to stand, In hammock, fort, or glen. To load the sure old rifle, -- To run the leaden ball, -- To watch a battling husband's place, And fill it should he fall. The Mothers of our Forest-Land! Such were their daily deeds. Their monument! -- where does it stand? Their epitaph! -- who reads? No braver dames had Sparta, No nobler matrons Rome, -- Yet who or lauds or honors them, E'en in their own green home! The Mothers of our Forest-Land! They sleep in unknown graves: And had they borne and nursed a band Of ingrates, or of slaves, They had not been more neglected! But their graves shall yet be found, And their monuments dot here and there "The Dark and Bloody Ground." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JULY FOURTH BY THE OCEAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS SHINE, PERISHING REPUBLIC by ROBINSON JEFFERS SHINE, PERISHING REPUBLIC by ROBINSON JEFFERS WATCH THE LIGHTS FADE by ROBINSON JEFFERS AFTER TENNYSON by AMBROSE BIERCE MEETING YOU AT THE PIERS by KENNETH KOCH INVOCATION TO THE SOCIAL MUSE by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH AUTUMN IN THE WEST by WILLIAM DAVIS GALLAGHER |
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