The Mother
The world is a fine place and worth fighting for - Ernest Hemingway

Home ] What is New ] Khukri of Honour ] Awards & Commendations ] Mountains & Memories ] Trees for Nawang ] Nawang Experiences ] What you can do ] Army Memorials ] Logos ] Ashes to Ashes ] 3rd Gorkha Rifles ] Photographs ] Quotations ] Poems ] Articles ] Birthday ] Anniversary ] Visit to Nepal ] Brother Sites ] Press Report ] Pay Tributes ] Site Map ] Contact Us ]


 

Back to Poems

The poem was written in 1915 during the Irish rising against British rule in the second decade of the 20th century.

                    The Mother

                                by Padraic Pearse

I do not grudge them: Lord, I do not grudge
My two strong sons that I have seen go out
To break their strength and die, they and a few,
In bloody protest for a glorious thing,
They shall be spoken of among their people,
The generations shall remember them,
And call them blessed;
But I will speak their names to my own heart
In the long nights;
The little names that were familiar once
Round my dead hearth.
Lord, thou art hard on mothers:
We suffer in their coming and their going;
And tho' I grudge them not, I weary, weary
Of the long sorrow—And yet I have my joy:
My sons were faithful, and they fought.

Recommended by Janet Rizvi, a friend of the family 

 

Back to Poems