Destroyers and Other Verses/Long Ago I Used To Pray
Long ago I used to pray
To be loved and to be wooed,
Spotlessly as maidens may,
Ignorant of motherhood.
Now I am to woman grown,
Love seems but an idle mood,
For I hear in every tone
Overtures to motherhood.
And I lie and pray to thee,
Mary Virgin, pure and good,
Thou canst calm the raging sea,
Still my cry for motherhood.
Grant my breasts may yield reply
To an infants cry for food;
May his dimpled fingers lie
On those springs of motherhood.
I would brave the hideous pain
Of they death-watch by the rood,
If by sorrow I could gain
The fierce joy of motherhood.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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