that her Mom, my Aunt Dorothy, likes. With Diana's permission
I'm posting it here for you to enjoy as well!
"I have my mother's poetry book that she got on VE Day , May 8, 1945
This was her favorite poem in it:
SOMEBODY'S MOTHER
Mary Dow Brine
The woman was old and ragged and gray
And bent with the chill of the Winter's day.
The street was wet with a recent snow
And the woman's feet were aged and slow.
She stood at the crossing and waited long
Alone, uncared for, amid the throng.
Of human beings who passed her by,
Nor heeded the glance of her anxious eye.
Down the street, with laughter and shout,
Glad in the freedom of "school let out".
Came the boys like a flock of sheep
Hailing the snow piled white and deep.
Past the woman so old and gray
Hastened the children on their way.
Nor offered a helping had to her--
So meek, so timid, afraid to stir.
Lest the carriage wheels or the horses' feet
Should crowd her down in the slippery street.
At last came one of the merry troup,
The gayest laddie of all the group;
He paused beside her and whispered low,
"I'll help you cross, if you wish to go."
Her aged hand on his strong young arm
She placed, and so, without hurt or harm,
He guided the trembling feet along,
Proud that his own were firm and strong.
Then back again to his friends he went,
His young heart happy and well content.
"She's somebody's mother, boys, you know,
For all she's aged and poor and slow.
"And I hope some fellow will lend a hand
To help my mother, you understand.
"If ever she's poor and old and gray,
When her own dear boy is far away.
And "somebody's mother" bowed low her head
In her home that night, and the prayer she said
Was "God be kind to the noble boy
Who is somebody's son, and pride and joy!" "
3 comments:
sniff sniff. pretty sure both my grandmothers would have liked this one.
I had forgotten this. I read it while in elementary school (graduated 8th grade in 1940, so I probably read it before the start of WWII). I think the poem is older than the times of my encounter and that of the VE day album.
One of my favorite poems of all time! I have this framed and hung in my family room for my grandchildren. It reminds me how my grandsons are, at the same time reminds me of my grandmother, born in the 1890s. Also, my very loved own mother born in 1917, who taught me the love of poetry!
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