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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
RECOMPENSE, by LAURA D. JEFFERSON
First Line: You ask me what this day my hands have wrought
Last Line: "and what in life surpasses sympathy?"
Subject(s): Mothers
First Line: You ask me what this day my hands have wrought
Last Line: "and what in life surpasses sympathy?"
Subject(s): Mothers
You ask me what this day my hands have wrought --
Some lovely work of art, a picture rare,
A poem, song, or words of lofty thought --
I sigh, well knowing I can show nothing fair.
Then I recall the look within the eyes
Of my small son when to my arms he fled
With aching heart for comfort in his grief,
Because his cherished pet he had found dead!
You ask me what I've given the world today --
What problems grave I've solved; what light discerned
For those whose need is great; how much I know
Of great philosophers or sages learned;
And I stand silent, ignorant, abashed;
Yet something in my breast sings out to me, --
"You've offered solace, shared another's loss,
And what in life surpasses Sympathy?"
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MY MOTHER'S HANDS by ANDREW HUDGINS
CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS
IN THE 25TH YEAR OF MY MOTHER'S DEATH by JUDY JORDAN
THE PAIDLIN' WEAN by ALEXANDER ANDERSON
BLASTING FROM HEAVEN by PHILIP LEVINE
PASSING BY by THOMAS FORD (1580-1648)