 | Poems and dramas of George Cabot Lodge |  |
36
MOTHERS OF MEN
Weep, mothers of men!
Out of pain ye have peopled the earth,
And the pain of life is the pain of birth,
With its sordid lust and its evil mirth,
And yet ye have borne and must bear again—
Weep, mothers of men!
Out of pain ye have peopled the earth,
And the pain of life is the pain of birth,
With its sordid lust and its evil mirth,
And yet ye have borne and must bear again—
Weep, mothers of men!
Weep, mothers of men!
The toil of body and ache of brain,
The sweat of life at the end proves vain;
Your children leave you to dare the strain,
Your children return to you alien—
Weep, mothers of men!
The toil of body and ache of brain,
The sweat of life at the end proves vain;
Your children leave you to dare the strain,
Your children return to you alien—
Weep, mothers of men!
Weep, mothers of men!
The hands of the world are strong to take
The lives ye bear for the world's sole sake,
To try their souls till they bend or break:
Your children vanish from out your ken—
Weep, mothers of men!
The hands of the world are strong to take
The lives ye bear for the world's sole sake,
To try their souls till they bend or break:
Your children vanish from out your ken—
Weep, mothers of men!
Weep, mothers of men!
For a woman's lips, for the lust of gold,
Your children's honour is bought and sold,
Your children die in the dark and cold,
Your children never shall come again—
Weep, mothers of men!
For a woman's lips, for the lust of gold,
Your children's honour is bought and sold,
37
Your children never shall come again—
Weep, mothers of men!
Weep, mothers of men!
The human heart is the proper sheath
For the dagger of life; ye have blown the breath
Of life in the world and it ends in death;
Your children live and die, and then?—
Weep, mothers of men!
The human heart is the proper sheath
For the dagger of life; ye have blown the breath
Of life in the world and it ends in death;
Your children live and die, and then?—
Weep, mothers of men!
Weep, mothers of men!
Weep and pray to the God whose scorn
Has given ye life that men may be born:
Hearts to suffer and eyes to mourn,
For the crown of love is a crown of thorn,
And your children return to you alien,
Perish and never return again—
Weep, mothers of men!
Weep and pray to the God whose scorn
Has given ye life that men may be born:
Hearts to suffer and eyes to mourn,
For the crown of love is a crown of thorn,
And your children return to you alien,
Perish and never return again—
Weep, mothers of men!
| Poems and dramas of George Cabot Lodge | |