Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
His Mothers Joy
By John White Chadwick (18401904)[From A Book of Poems. 1876.]
L
As on her arm her baby lay,
What tides of joy would swell and beat,
Through ages long, on Christmas day.
The awful splendor of his fame?
The inmost heart of all her joy
Would still, methinks, have been the same:
Who feels her babe against her breast:
The voyage long is overpast,
And now is calm and peace and rest.
As easy as her infant’s breath:
But answer none. Enough for her,
That love had triumphed over death.
December 25, 1877.