"Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight,

[orleans]

"Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight,
Make me a child again just for to-night!
Mother, come back from the echoless shore,
Take me again to your heart as of yore;
Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care,
Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair;
Over my slumbers your loving watch keep;—
Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep!

"Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!
I am so weary of toil and of tears,—
Toil without recompense, tears all in vain,—
Take them, and give me my childhood again!
I have grown weary of dust and decay,—
Weary of flinging my soul-wealth away;
Weary of sowing for others to reap;—
Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep!

"Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue,
Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you!
Many a summer the grass has grown green,
Blossomed and faded, our faces between:
Yet, with strong yearning and passionate pain,
Long I to-night for your presence again.
Come from the silence so long and so deep;—
Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep!

"Over my heart, in the days that are flown,
No love like mother-love ever has shone;
No other worship abides and endures,—
Faithful, unselfish, and patient like yours:
None like a mother can charm away pain
From the sick soul and the world-weary brain.
Slumber's soft calms o'er my heavy lids creep;—
Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep!

"Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold,
Fall on your shoulders again as of old;
Let it drop over my forehead to-night,
Shading my faint eyes away from the light;
For with its sunny-edged shadows once more
Haply will throng the sweet visions of yore;
Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep;—
Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep!

"Mother, dear mother, the years have been long
Since I last listened your lullaby song:
Sing, then, and unto my soul it shall seem
Womanhood's years have been only a dream.
Clasped to your heart in a loving embrace,
With your light lashes just sweeping my face,
Never hereafter to wake or to weep;—
Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep!

by Elizabeth Akers Allen

[orleans]

1. well--a complete year without my mumsie

my first year--2010--without her in my visual day to day

wow.

the last number of years my daughter would be out with her friends and i'd watch the tv with my mom--at midnight we'd wish each other a happy new year, i'd get up and kiss her happy new year, and we'd talk about how we made it through another year.

2009 new years eve is a blurr--it happened less than two months after she passed on. my daughter was home with me--we spent the night crying.

this year i sat with my daughter--looked across the room at my mother's chair and then at her pictures on the piano; thought to myself: "happy new year mom" and a song she loved began playing over the fireworks on the tv: "let's stay together." perfect timing.

[auntAgonist]

2. Those firsts are so hard and I truly

don't think it gets easier.

I'm so glad you spent the evening with your daughter.

May the coming year be filled with good memories that warm your heart and keep your Mother close.

:hug:
aA
kesha

[whathehell]

3. Being without your mother is so hard, can't it?....

I've been without mine for four years now.

I haven't been on this forum since I lost her in '06 but I was thinking of her and feeling the feelings your poem describes..


Thank you for it.