Explore "The Nursing Sister" by Rudyard Kipling on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
_(Maternity Hospital)_
Our sister sayeth such and such. / And we must bow to her behests; / Our sister toileth overmuch, / Our little maid that hath no breasts.
A field untilled, a web unwove, / A flower withheld from sun or bee, / An alien in the courts of Love, / And -- teacher unto such as we!
We love her, but we laugh the while, / We laugh, but sobs are mixed with laughter; / Our sister hath no time to smile, / She knows not what must follow after.
Wind of the South, arise and blow, / From beds of spice thy locks shake free; / Breathe on her heart that she may know, / Breathe on her eyes that she may see.
Alas! we vex her with our mirth, / And maze her with most tender scorn, / Who stands beside the gates of Birth, / Herself a child -- a child unborn!
_Our sister sayeth such and such, / And we must bow to her behests; / Our sister toileth overmuch, / Our little maid that hath no breasts._