The Poetry Corner

Mother. - Alpha and Omega.

By Alfred Castner King

Mother! Mother! The startled cry of childish fright Rang through the silence of the night, As but the mother's fond caress Could soothe its infantile distress; And the mother answered, with loving stroke Of her gentle hand, as she softly spoke: "Hush, hush, my child, that troubled cry; What evil can harm thee, with mother nigh?" Mother! Mother! Long years have passed, and the fevered brow Of a bearded man, she is stroking now, As through delirium and pain He cries as a little child, again. And the mother answered, with loving stroke Of her careworn hand, as she softly spoke: "Hush, hush, my child, that troubled cry; What evil can harm thee, with mother nigh?" Mother! Mother! Still time rolls on, and an old man stands Trembling on life's declining sands; As memory bridges the flood of years He cries as a child, with childish tears; And memory answers, with loving stroke Of a vanished hand, and an echo spoke: "Hush, hush, my child, that troubled cry; What evil can harm thee, with mother nigh?"