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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE MOTHER, by JAMES OPPENHEIM Poet's Biography
First Line: What does the woman sing to the love-seed
Last Line: Who sings? ... What mother?
Subject(s): Mothers
First Line: What does the woman sing to the love-seed
Last Line: Who sings? ... What mother?
Subject(s): Mothers
WHAT DOES the woman sing to the love-seed under her heart?
"Oh, my beloved, unborn,
Oh, lips in the darkness that yet shall be kissing my breast:
I send my life-blood into you,
And great love upon you:
Hushed in the pool of the dark you blossom in me!
"Beloved! I make this charge upon you:
When out of my littleness you come to the sudden vastness,
And faces are about you, and cities, and the winds of the deep:
Fear nothing, baby:
My arms are there: my breasts: your mother meets you!"
Thus sings the woman: this is the song of all women:
So sang a woman to me.
Tides of the darkness! Cave of the midnight!
Am I still seed?
What life-blood flows through the Earth to me:
What great love is upon me:
Who sings? ... What Mother?
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
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