I am the pillars of the house; <br />The keystone of the arch am I. <br />Take me away, and roof and wall <br />Would fall to ruin me utterly. <br /> <br />I am the fire upon the hearth, <br />I am the light of the good sun, <br />I am the heat that warms the earth, <br />Which else were colder than a stone. <br /> <br />At me the children warm their hands; <br />I am their light of love alive. <br />Without me cold the hearthstone stands, <br />Nor could the precious children thrive. <br /> <br />I am the twist that holds together <br />The children in its sacred ring, <br />Their knot of love, from whose close tether <br />No lost child goes a-wandering. <br /> <br />I am the house from floor to roof, <br />I deck the walls, the board I spread; <br />I spin the curtains, warp and woof, <br />And shake the down to be their bed. <br /> <br />I am their wall against all danger, <br />Their door against the wind and snow, <br />Thou Whom a woman laid in a manger, <br />Take me not till the children grow!<br /><br />Katharine Tynan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/any-woman/
