Mother. - Alpha and Omega.

Mother! Mother!
    The startled cry of childish fright
    Rang through the silence of the night,
    As but the mother's fond caress
    Could soothe its infantile distress;
    And the mother answered, with loving stroke
    Of her gentle hand, as she softly spoke:
    "Hush, hush, my child, that troubled cry;
    What evil can harm thee, with mother nigh?"

Mother! Mother!
    Long years have passed, and the fevered brow
    Of a bearded man, she is stroking now,
    As through delirium and pain
    He cries as a little child, again.
    And the mother answered, with loving stroke
    Of her careworn hand, as she softly spoke:
    "Hush, hush, my child, that troubled cry;
    What evil can harm thee, with mother nigh?"

Mother! Mother!
    Still time rolls on, and an old man stands
    Trembling on life's declining sands;
    As memory bridges the flood of years
    He cries as a child, with childish tears;
    And memory answers, with loving stroke
    Of a vanished hand, and an echo spoke:
    "Hush, hush, my child, that troubled cry;
    What evil can harm thee, with mother nigh?"