Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MOTHER, by FANNIE STEARNS DAVIS GIFFORD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MOTHER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: And now, they did not need her any more
Last Line: "thou only, over all the world, must know!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Davis, Fannie Stearns
Subject(s): Mothers


AND now, they did not need her any more.
She heard below the shudder of the door,
The quick feet on the path, and she was fain
Only to snatch her sewing up again,
And sew, and sew, seam over feverish seam,
Hurrying in the dumb haze of a dream,
Thrusting away the moment when her hand
Should force her idleness to understand
That they were gone, all gone, and at the door
They would not call and claim her any more.

Young as the morning, they were gone away,
Whose kisses kept her hair from turning gray,
Whose laughter kept her ready. Wherefore now
Should not those wrinkles deepen in her brow,
And she shut up her heart, and learn to be
Of her bright self a queer dull travesty?
And yet, the smile they left her must not die;
For crying now, might she not always cry?
"O God!" she whispered, sewing, "keep me! Oh,
Thou only, over all the world, must know!"





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