Poems (Tynan)/The Heart of a Mother

by Katharine Tynan

THE HEART OF A MOTHER

You were so far away,
 Beyond all help from me;
And so when skies were gray,
 Or clouds lowered threateningly,
And the wailing storm-wind blew,
My heart went out to you.

I always felt afraid
 You were out in the stormy weather,
The rain on your bonny head,
 The wind and the rain together.
Ah me! I never knew
What harm might come to you.

So many pains there are,
 And perils by land and sea;
And each his cross must bear,
 And each his weird must dree;
And it might be even then
You lived your hour of pain.

My fears were unavailing:
 You are so safe for aye—
My dear, who went a-sailing
 On Death's wide sea one day;
You answer not my call
Across the gray sea-wall.

I follow, with wet eyes,
 Your boat's white lonely track;
But vex you not with sighs,
 Nor long that you were back:
Your boat with sails of snow
Came safe to port, I know.

O is the new land fair
 That you have journeyed to,
With floods of amber air,
 And hills of marvellous hue,
And a city's shining spires
Fashioned of day-dawn's fires?

O is it a pleasant country
 That you are come unto,
With leaves on the greenwood tree,
 And birds above in the blue,
And shades below the trees
Where the weary dream at ease,

And little children playing
 On a green and golden mead,
And One o'er the greensward straying
 Whose face I know indeed,—
The dead face on the rood,
The dear face, kind and good?

O safe for evermore,
 With never a weird to dree;
Is any burden sore
 When one's beloved goes free?
Come pain, come woe to me,
My well-beloved goes free!

You are so far away,
 And yet are come so near;
On many a heavy day
 I think of you, my dear,
Safe in your shelter there,
Christ's hand upon your hair.