Poems (Jackson)/A Mother's Farewell to a Voyager
A MOTHER'S FAREWELL TO A VOYAGER.
"——— sends love and good-by. She thinks she sees the four quarters of the globe when she looks into the faces of her four children. November 2, 1868."
AIL east, sail west, O wanderer, In east, in west, you cannot seeSuch suns as rise and set in these Four little faces round my knee.Blue as the north my first-born's eyes; Her yellow hair hides brow of snow;Like conquerors from the North she brought The sweet subjection mothers know.
Glad and sad, and changed in an hour, My next girl's face is tropic sea,Where laden winds, whose secret none Can tell, sweep on unceasingly.
Grave and searching, with hidden fire, My black-eyed boy kneels like a priest;I know that, looking where he looks, We shall see the "Star in the East."
No name as yet my baby has, Her rosy hands are just uncurled;But with wet eyes we kiss her cheeks, And thank God for our sweet "new world."
Sail east, sail west, dear wanderer! God cares for you and cares for me;He knows for which of us 't was best To stay with children round her knee.
Steamship China, November 12, 1863.