Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A CHANGELING, by ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER Poet's Biography First Line: A little changeling spirit Last Line: That I shall find her there. Alternate Author Name(s): Berwick, Mary Subject(s): Children; Graves; Tears; Childhood; Tombs; Tombstones | ||||||||
A LITTLE changeling spirit Crept to my arms one day: I had no heart or courage To drive the child away. So all day long I soothed her, And hushed her on my breast; And all night long her wailing Would never let me rest. I dug a grave to hold her, A grave both dark and deep; I covered her with violets, And laid her there to sleep. I used to go and watch there, Both night and morning too: -- It was my tears, I fancy, That kept the violets blue, I took her up: and once more I felt the clinging hold, And heard the ceaseless wailing That wearied me of old. I wandered, and I wandered, With my burden on my breast, Till I saw a church-door open, And entered in to rest. In the dim, dying daylight, Set in a flowery shrine, I saw the Virgin Mother Holding her Child divine. I knelt down there in silence, And on the altar-stone I laid my wailing burden, And came away -- alone. And now that little spirit, That sobbed so all day long, Is grown a shining Angel, With wings both wide and strong. She watches me from Heaven With loving, tender care, And one day she has promised That I shall find her there. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SURVIVOR AMONG GRAVES by RANDALL JARRELL SUBJECTED EARTH by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE GRAVE OF MRS. HEMANS by CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER THOSE GRAVES IN ROME by LARRY LEVIS NOT TO BE DWELLED ON by HEATHER MCHUGH ONE LAST DRAW OF THE PIPE by PAUL MULDOON ETRUSCAN TOMB by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS ENDING WITH A LINE FROM LEAR by MARVIN BELL A DOUBTING HEART by ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER |
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