The Mother-s Last Watch Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCBCDEDE FGFGHIHI JKLMNONON BPBQRCRSN N N NJNL NNNNTUTUN VWVWXYXYZEZE| Written on the occasion of the death of the infant daughter of Her Grace the Duchess of Sutherland | A |
| I | - |
| - | |
| HARK through the proudly decorated halls | B |
| How strangely sounds the voice of bitter woe | C |
| Where steps that dread their echo as it falls | B |
| Steal silently and sadly to and fro | C |
| There wither'd lies the bud so lately given | D |
| And beautiful in grief as when she smiled | E |
| Bow'd 'neath the unexpected stroke of Heaven | D |
| The mourning Mother watches o'er her Child | E |
| II | - |
| - | |
| 'Tis her last Watch Sleep seals those infant lids | F |
| Dark fall the lashes on that roseleaf cheek | G |
| But oh the look is there which Hope forbids | F |
| Of Death of Death those heavy eyelids speak | G |
| 'Tis her last Watch no more that gentle hand | H |
| With cautious love shall curtain out the light | I |
| No more that graceful form shall mutely stand | H |
| And bless thy slumbers thro' the shadowy night | I |
| III | - |
| - | |
| Hush'd is the innocent heart which throbbing pain | J |
| Vain hope and vain regret had never moved | K |
| The God who gave hath claim'd his gift again | L |
| And angels welcome her on earth so loved | M |
| Yet still of hope and fear the endless strife | N |
| Within that Mother's bosom faintly swells | O |
| Still still she gazes on and dreams of life | N |
| Though the fond falsehood Reason's pow'r repels | O |
| IV | N |
| - | |
| Unheard each word of comfort faintly falls | B |
| From lips whose tones in other days were dear | P |
| Her infant's smile is all her heart recalls | B |
| Her infant's voice is all her heart can hear | Q |
| She clasps its hand the feverish glow of hers | R |
| Wakes into warmth the freezing current's flow | C |
| She bends her sobbing breath a ringlet stirs | R |
| With mimic life upon its pallid brow | S |
| V | N |
| - | |
| Oh what a mournful thing is human love | N |
| In happier days of hope and bliss gone by | - |
| The Mother's heart with pitying throb would move | N |
| If but a teardrop dimm'd that laughing eye | - |
| And now she prays that Heaven the boon may give | N |
| To hear from those pale lips a cry of pain | J |
| Aught that could bid her sinking soul revive | N |
| And tell the mourner thou wert hers again | L |
| VI | - |
| - | |
| Ah never more that dream of hope may be | N |
| The summer breeze among the boughs shall wave | N |
| The summer sun beam bright o'er land and lea | N |
| But thou no spring shall wake thee from the grave | N |
| No more those little rosy lips shall greet | T |
| With brightly sudden smile her look of pride | U |
| No more with falt'ring steps those fairy feet | T |
| Shall totter onward to her cherish'd side | U |
| VII | N |
| - | |
| All all is over See with painful start | V |
| She wakens from her trance to feel the whole | W |
| And know the pang even from thy corse to part | V |
| Thou vainly guarded treasure of her soul | W |
| The hand that ah so often hath caress'd | X |
| Aids now to place thee in thy narrow bed | Y |
| The last wild kiss upon thy cheek is press'd | X |
| The last fond tear upon thy coffin shed | Y |
| And all is hush'd but oft thro' Life's dull track | Z |
| When time her present sorrow hath beguiled | E |
| That pale sweet brow shall dimly bring us back | Z |
| The Mother's last Watch o'er her fairy Child | E |
Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
(1)
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