Blessed with a joy that only she <br />Of all alive shall ever know, <br />She wears a proud humility <br />For what it was that willed it so - <br />That her degree should be so great <br />Among the favoured of the Lord <br />That she may scarcely bear the weight <br />Of her bewildering reward. <br /> <br />As one apart, immune, alone, <br />Or featured for the shining ones, <br />And like to none that she has known <br />Of other women's other sons - <br />The firm fruition of her need, <br />He shines anointed; and he blurs <br />Her vision, till it seems indeed <br />A sacrilege to call him hers. <br /> <br />She fears a little for so much <br />Of what is best, and hardly dares <br />To think of him as one to touch <br />With aches, indignities, and cares; <br />She sees him rather at the goal, <br />Still shining; and her dream foretells <br />The proper shining of a soul <br />Where nothing ordinary dwells. <br /> <br />Perchance a canvass of the town <br />Would find him far from flags and shouts, <br />And leave him only the renown <br />Of many smiles and many doubts; <br />Perchance the crude and common tongue <br />Would havoc strangely with his worth; <br />But she, with innocence unwrung, <br />Would read his name around the earth. <br /> <br />And others, knowing how this youth <br />Would shine, if love could make him great, <br />When caught and tortured for the truth <br />Would only writhe and hesitate; <br />While she, arranging for his days <br />What centuries could not fulfil, <br />Transmutes him with her faith and praise, <br />And has him shining where she will. <br /> <br />She crowns him with her gratefulness, <br />And says again that life is good; <br />And should the gift of God be less <br />In him than in her motherhood, <br />His fame, though vague, will not be small <br />As upward through her dream he fares, <br />Half clouded with a crimson fall <br />Of roses thrown on marble stairs.<br /><br />Edwin Arlington Robinson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-gift-of-god/
