Our Mothers

Christina Georgina Rossetti

Our Mothers, lovely women pitiful;
  Our Sisters, gracious in their life and death;
  To us each unforgotten memory saith:
“Learn as we learned in life’s sufficient school,
Work as we worked in patience of our rule,
  Walk as we walked, much less by sight than faith,
  Hope as we hoped, despite our slips and scathe,
Fearful in joy and confident in dule.”
I know not if they see us or can see;
  But if they see us in our painful day,
    How looking back to earth from Paradise
    Do tears not gather in those loving eyes?—
  Ah, happy eyes! whose tears are wiped away
Whether or not you bear to look on me.

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