Beside the weather-boarded shanty A gnarled old cedar tree Leans toward the crumbling chimney As friends in misery. The window panes are broken out And a crude built rocky mound Is the only makeshift doorstep From the porch floor to the ground. Could this stooped and bent old woman Drawing water from the well With heavy chain and battered bucket Be someone's mother, who can tell? Living alone in desolation Unloved and unprotected In poverty and want she lives Forgotten and neglected. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DINOSAUR NATIONAL by KAREN SWENSON GOOD-BYE DOROTHY GAYLE: THE ROAD TO BUFFALO by KAREN SWENSON LIMERICK by OLIVER BROOK HERFORD A SOUL; A STUDY by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI PAMPINEA by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH FRAGMENTS INTENDED FOR DEATH'S JEST-BOOK: MAN'S GUARD AGAINST DEATH by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |