Granny

Here, in her elbow chair, she sits

A soul alert, alive,

A poor old body shrunk and bent-

The queen-bee of the hive.

But hives of bees and hives of men

Obey their several laws;

No fiercely-loving filial throng

This mother-head adores.

This bringer of world-wealth, whereof

None may compute the worth,

Is possibly of no account

To anyone on earth.

Her cap and spectacles, that mean

Dim eyes and scanty hairs,

The humble symbols of her state-

The only crown she wears.

Lacking a kingdom and a court,

A relic of the past,

Almost a cumberer of the ground-

That is our queen at last.

But still not wholly without place,

Nor quite bereft of power;

A useful stopgap-a resource

In many a troubled hour.

She darns the stockings, keeps the house,

The nurseless infant tends,

While the young matrons and the men

Pursue their various ends-

Too keen-set on their great affairs,

Or little plays and pranks,

The things and people of their world,

To give her thought or thanks-

The children on whom all her thought

And time and love were spent

Through half a century of years!

Yet is she well content.

The schooling of those fiery years,

It has not been for nought;

A large philosophy of life

Has self-less service taught.

The outlook from the heights attained

By climbings sore and slow

Discovers worlds of wisdom, hid

From clearest eyes below.

So calmly, in her elbow chair,

Forgotten and alone,

She knits and dreams, and sometimes sighs

But never makes a moan.

Still dwelling with her brood unseen-

Ghosts of a bygone day-

The precious daughter in her grave,

The dear son gone astray-

And others, to whom once she stood

As only light and law,

The near and living, and yet lost,

That need her love no more.

Watching their joyous setting forth

To mingle with their kind,

With scarce a pang, with ne’er a grudge,

At being left behind.

“Let them be young, as I was young,

And happy while they may” . . . .

A dog that waits the night in peace

Since it has had its day.

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Poems in English 

• In Imitation of E. of Rochester : On Silence poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• In Imitation of E. of Dorset : Artemisia poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• In Imitation of Dr. Swift : The Happy Life of a Country Parson poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• In Imitation of Cowley : The Garden poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• In Imitation of Chaucer poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Impromptu, to Lady Winchelsea poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Imitations of Horace: The First Epistle of the Second Book poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• From an Essay on Man poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Essay on Man poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle IV, To Richard Boyle, poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Epistle II: To A Lady (Of the Characters of Women) poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Epistle To Mrs Teresa Blount.[On Her Leaving The Town After The Coronation] poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Epistle To Mrs Teresa Blount.[On Her Leaving The Town After The Coronation] poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Epigram Engraved on the Collar of a Dog Which I Gave to His Royal Highness poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Eloisa to Abelard poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Couplets on Wit poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Chorus of Youths and Virgins poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• Chorus of Athenians poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English

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