The Mother
Here I lean over you, small son, sleepingWarm in my arms,And I con to my heart all your dew-fresh charms,As you lie close, close in my hungry hold . . .Your hair like a miser's dream of gold,And the white rose of your face far fairer,Finer, and rarerThan all the flowers in the young year's keeping;Over lips half parted your low breath creepingIs sweeter than violets in April grasses;Though your eyes are fast shut I can see their blue,Splendid and soft as starshine in heaven,With all the joyance and wisdom givenFrom the many souls who have stanchly strivenThrough the dead years to be strong and true.
Those fine little feet in my worn hands holden . . .Where will they tread?Valleys of shadow or heights dawn-red?And those silken fingers, O, wee, white son,What valorous deeds shall by them be doneIn the future that yet so distant is seemingTo my fond dreaming?What words all so musical and goldenWith starry truth and poesy oldenShall those lips speak in the years on-coming?O, child of mine, with waxen brow,Surely your words of that dim to-morrowRapture and power and grace must borrowFrom the poignant love and holy sorrowOf the heart that shrines and cradles you now!
Some bitter day you will love another,To her will bearLove-gifts and woo her . . . then must I shareYou and your tenderness! Now you are mineFrom your feet to your hair so golden and fine,And your crumpled finger-tips . . . mine completely,Wholly and sweetly;Mine with kisses deep to smother,No one so near to you now as your mother!Others may hear your words of beauty,But your precious silence is mine alone;Here in my arms I have enrolled you,Away from the grasping world I fold you,Flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone!
Words in this poem
- starshine n.
- The light of the stars.
- joyance n.
- Enjoyment; gayety; festivity; joyfulness. [OF. joiance.]
- stanchly adv.
- In a stanch manner.
- valorous a.
- Possessing or exhibiting valor; brave; courageous; valiant; intrepid. [Cf. F. valeureux, LL. valorosus.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- poesy n.
- The art of composing poems; poetical skill or faculty; as, the heavenly gift of poesy. [F. poésie (cf. It. poesia), L. poesis, from Gr. Posy.]
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- borrow v. t.
- To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
- poignant a.
- Pricking; piercing; sharp; pungent. [F., p. pr. of poindre to sting, fr. L. pungere to prick, sting. See Pungent.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Mother is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Watchman and Other Poems (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1917; Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart, 1916), Internet Archive; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: L. M. Montgomery, The Mother, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/the-mother.html, id L29445.
Form and metre
The Mother is 44 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 59% of the lines. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 73%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBCCDDAA-E-FFE sleepingA · armsB · charmsB · holdC · goldC · fairerD · rarerD · keepingA · creepingA · grasses · blueE · heaven · givenF · strivenF · trueE
- 2 ABBCCDDAA-EF-FE holdenA · treadB · redB · sonC · doneC · seemingD · dreamingD · goldenA · oldenA · coming · browE · morrowF · borrow · sorrowF · nowE
- 3 ABBCCDDAA-EFFE anotherA · bearB · shareB · mineC · fineC · completelyD · sweetlyD · smotherA · motherA · beauty · aloneE · youF · youF · boneE
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Here I lean over you, small son, sleeping | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Warm in my arms, | 4 | ···· |
| And I con to my heart all your dew-fresh charms, | 11 | ··········· |
| As you lie close, close in my hungry hold . . . | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Your hair like a miser's dream of gold, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| And the white rose of your face far fairer, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Finer, and rarer | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Than all the flowers in the young year's keeping; | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Over lips half parted your low breath creeping | 11 | ····/˘···/˘ |
| Is sweeter than violets in April grasses; | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Though your eyes are fast shut I can see their blue, | 11 | ··········· |
| Splendid and soft as starshine in heaven, | 10 | /˘···/˘·/˘ |
| With all the joyance and wisdom given | 10 | ···/˘·/˘/˘ |
| From the many souls who have stanchly striven | 11 | ··/˘···/˘/˘ |
| Through the dead years to be strong and true. | 9 | ········· |
| Those fine little feet in my worn hands holden . . . | 11 | ··/˘·····/˘ |
| Where will they tread? | 4 | ···· |
| Valleys of shadow or heights dawn-red? | 9 | /˘·/····· |
| And those silken fingers, O, wee, white son, | 10 | ··/˘/˘···· |
| What valorous deeds shall by them be done | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| In the future that yet so distant is seeming | 12 | ··/˘···/˘·/˘ |
| To my fond dreaming? | 5 | ···/˘ |
| What words all so musical and golden | 10 | ····/˘˘·/˘ |
| With starry truth and poesy olden | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Shall those lips speak in the years on-coming? | 10 | ········/˘ |
| O, child of mine, with waxen brow, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Surely your words of that dim to-morrow | 10 | /˘······/˘ |
| Rapture and power and grace must borrow | 10 | /˘·/˘···/· |
| From the poignant love and holy sorrow | 10 | ··/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Of the heart that shrines and cradles you now! | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Some bitter day you will love another, | 10 | ·/˘····˘/˘ |
| To her will bear | 4 | ···· |
| Love-gifts and woo her . . . then must I share | 9 | ········· |
| You and your tenderness! Now you are mine | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| From your feet to your hair so golden and fine, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| And your crumpled finger-tips . . . mine completely, | 11 | ··/˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| Wholly and sweetly; | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Mine with kisses deep to smother, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| No one so near to you now as your mother! | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Others may hear your words of beauty, | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| But your precious silence is mine alone; | 10 | ··/˘/˘··˘/ |
| Here in my arms I have enrolled you, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Away from the grasping world I fold you, | 10 | ˘/··/˘···· |
| Flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone! | 9 | ········· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.