Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1879). V. The Mother. Hunt and Lee, comps. 1867. The Book of the Sonnet

Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.

V. The Mother

By Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale (1788–1879)


The Empire of Woman—A Series of Sonnets EARTH held no symbol, had no living sign
To image forth the mother’s deathless love;
And so the tender care the righteous prove
Beneath the ever-watching Eye Divine
Was given as type to show how pure a shrine	5
The mother’s heart was hallowed from above;
And how her mortal hopes must intertwine
With hopes immortal;—and she may not move
From this high station which our Saviour sealed
When in maternal arms he lay revealed.	10
O, wondrous power and little understood,
Intrusted to the mother’s mind alone,
To fashion genius, form the soul for good,
Inspire a Wirt, or train a Washington!