The Two Mothers

FOR fondling arm, warm breast, and life’s sweet tide,
What dost thou to thy mother make return ?
Some madcap girl can win thee from her side ;
Few tears, at best, hast thou above her urn.

Only to Earth, thy mother, art thou just:
To her thou givest all within thy power,
Thy life, thy breath, thyself, — a pinch of dust,
To star her bosom with a summer flower.