Destroyers and Other Verses/Long Ago I Used To Pray

Long ago I used to pray

To be loved and to be wooed,

Spotlessly as maidens may,

Ignorant of motherhood.

Now I am to woman grown,

Love seems but an idle mood,

For I hear in every tone

Overtures to motherhood.

And I lie and pray to thee,

Mary Virgin, pure and good,

Thou canst calm the raging sea,

Still my cry for motherhood.

Grant my breasts may yield reply

To an infants cry for food;

May his dimpled fingers lie

On those springs of motherhood.

I would brave the hideous pain

Of they death-watch by the rood,

If by sorrow I could gain

The fierce joy of motherhood.