Page:Anne Bradstreet and her time.djvu/104

88 showing how thoroughly she had caught the spirit of the time, as well as from the fact that it was quoted as authority by the wisest thinkers of the day, and regarded with an awe and admiration we are hardly likely to share, as the phenomenal work of a phenomenal woman.

Alas, dear Mother, fairest Queen and best, With honour, wealth and peace happy and blest; What ails thee hang thy head and cross thine arms? And sit i' th' dust, to sigh these sad alarms? What deluge of new woes thus overwhelme The glories of thy ever famous Realme? What means this wailing tone, this mournful guise? Ah, tell thy daughter, she may sympathize.

Art ignorant indeed of these my woes? Or must my forced tongue my griefs disclose? And must myself dissect my tatter'd state, Which mazed Christendome stands wond'ring at? And thou a child, a Limbe, and dost not feel My fainting weakened body now to reel? This Physick purging portion I have taken, Will bring Consumption, or an Ague quaking, Unless some Cordial, thou fetch from high, Which present help may ease my malady. If I decease, dost think thou shalt survive? Or by my wasting state dost think to thrive? Then weigh our case, if 't be not justly sad; Let me lament alone, while thou art glad.