Explore "Being his Mother" by James Whitcomb Riley on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Being his mother -- when he goes away / I would not hold him overlong, and so / Sometimes my yielding sight of him grows O / So quick of tears, I joy he did not stay / To catch the faintest rumor of them! Nay, / Leave always his eyes clear and glad, although / Mine own, dear Lord, do fill to overflow; / Let his remembered features, as I pray, / Smile ever on me! Ah! what stress of love / Thou givest me to guard with Thee thiswise: / Its fullest speech ever to be denied / Mine own -- being his mother! All thereof / Thou knowest only, looking from the skies / As when not Christ alone was crucified.