Nature, the gentlest mother, Impatient of no child, The feeblest or the waywardest, Her admonition mild . In forest and the hill By traveller is heard, Restraining rampant squirrel Or too impetuous bird. . How fair her conversation, A summer afternoon, -- Her household, her assembly; And when the sun goes down . Her voice among the aisles Incites the timid prayer Of the minutest cricket, The most unworthy flower. . When all the children sleep She turns as long away As will suffice to light her lamps; Then, bending from the sky . With infinite affection And infiniter care, Her golden finger on her lip, Wills silence everywhere. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WERE I BUT HIS OWN WIFE by ELLEN MARY PATRICK DOWNING AN APPEAL TO CATS IN THE BUSINESS OF LOVE; SONG by THOMAS FLATMAN UPON THE DEATH OF SIR ALBERT MORTON'S WIFE by MARCUS VALERIUS MARTIALIS ON THE BIRTH OF A FRIEND'S ELDEST SON by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD PSALM 133 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE THE SOUL-PATH by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE |