If I could clasp my little babe <br /> Upon my breast to-night, <br />I would not mind the blowing wind <br /> That shrieketh in affright. <br />Oh, my lost babe! my little babe, <br /> My babe with dreamful eyes; <br />Thy bed is cold; and night wind bold <br /> Shrieks woeful lullabies. <br /> <br />My breast is softer than the sod; <br /> This room, with lighter hearth, <br />Is better place for thy sweet face <br /> Than frozen mother eatrth. <br />Oh, my babe! oh, my lost babe! <br /> Oh, babe with waxen hands, <br />I want thee so, I need thee so - <br /> Come from thy mystic lands! <br /> <br />No love that, like a mother's fills <br /> Each corner of the heart; <br />No loss like hers, that rends, and chills, <br /> And tears the soul apart. <br />Oh, babe - my babe, my helpless babe! <br /> I miss thy little form. <br />Would I might creep where thou dost sleep, <br /> And clasp thee through the storm. <br /> <br />I hold thy pillow to my breast, <br /> To bring a vague relief; <br />I sing the songs that soothed thy rest - <br /> Ah me! no cheating grief. <br />My breathing babe! my sobbing babe! <br /> I miss thy plaintive moan, <br />I cannot hear - thou art not near - <br /> My little one, my own. <br /> <br />Thy father sleeps. He mourns thy loss, <br /> But little fathers know <br />The pain that makes a mother toss <br /> Through sleepless nights of woe. <br />My clinging babe! my nursing babe! <br /> What knows thy father - man - <br />How my breasts miss thy lips' soft kiss - <br /> None but a mother can. <br /> <br />Worn out, I sleep; I wake - I weep - <br /> I sleep - hush, hush, my dear; <br />Sweet lamb, fear not - Oh, God! I thought - <br /> I thought my babe was here.<br /><br />Ella Wheeler Wilcox<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/mother-s-loss/
