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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO MY MOTHER SLEEPING by MARY RUSSELL MITFORD

Poet Analysis

First Line: SLEEP ON, MY MOTHER! SWEET AND INNOCENT DREAMS
Last Line: O MODEL MOST BELOVED OF GOOD AND WISE.
Subject(s): MOTHERS;
SLEEP on, my mother! sweet and innocent dreams
Attend thee, best and dearest! Dreams that gild
Life's clouds like setting suns, with pleasures filled,
And saintly joy, such as thy mind beseems,--
Thy mind where never stormy passion gleams
Where their soft nest the dovelike virtues build;
And calmest thoughts, like violets distilled,
Their fragrance mingle with bright wisdom's beams.

Sleep on, sweet mother! not the lily's bell
So sweet; not the enamored west wind's sighs
That shake the dewdrop from her snowy cell
So gentle, not that dewdrop ere it flies
So pure. E'en slumber loves with thee to dwell,
O model most beloved of good and wise.



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