| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
| |
| My Mother |
| | | William Bell Scott (1811–90) |
| |
| |
| THERE was a gather’d stillness in the room: | |
| Only the breathing of the great sea rose | |
| From far off, aiding that profound repose, | |
| With regular pulse and pause within the gloom | |
| Of twilight, as if some impending doom | 5 |
| Was now approaching;—I sat moveless there, | |
| Watching with tears and thoughts that were like prayer, | |
| Till the hour struck,—the thread dropp’d from the loom; | |
| And the Bark pass’d in which freed souls are borne. | |
| The dear still’d face lay there; that sound forlorn | 10 |
| Continued; I rose not, but long sat by: | |
| And now my heart oft hears that sad seashore, | |
| When she is in the far-off land, and I | |
| Wait the dark sail returning yet once more. | |
| |
|
|
|
