Granny

Here, in her elbow chair, she sits

A soul alert, alive,

A poor old body shrunk and bent-

The queen-bee of the hive.

But hives of bees and hives of men

Obey their several laws;

No fiercely-loving filial throng

This mother-head adores.

This bringer of world-wealth, whereof

None may compute the worth,

Is possibly of no account

To anyone on earth.

Her cap and spectacles, that mean

Dim eyes and scanty hairs,

The humble symbols of her state-

The only crown she wears.

Lacking a kingdom and a court,

A relic of the past,

Almost a cumberer of the ground-

That is our queen at last.

But still not wholly without place,

Nor quite bereft of power;

A useful stopgap-a resource

In many a troubled hour.

She darns the stockings, keeps the house,

The nurseless infant tends,

While the young matrons and the men

Pursue their various ends-

Too keen-set on their great affairs,

Or little plays and pranks,

The things and people of their world,

To give her thought or thanks-

The children on whom all her thought

And time and love were spent

Through half a century of years!

Yet is she well content.

The schooling of those fiery years,

It has not been for nought;

A large philosophy of life

Has self-less service taught.

The outlook from the heights attained

By climbings sore and slow

Discovers worlds of wisdom, hid

From clearest eyes below.

So calmly, in her elbow chair,

Forgotten and alone,

She knits and dreams, and sometimes sighs

But never makes a moan.

Still dwelling with her brood unseen-

Ghosts of a bygone day-

The precious daughter in her grave,

The dear son gone astray-

And others, to whom once she stood

As only light and law,

The near and living, and yet lost,

That need her love no more.

Watching their joyous setting forth

To mingle with their kind,

With scarce a pang, with ne’er a grudge,

At being left behind.

“Let them be young, as I was young,

And happy while they may” . . . .

A dog that waits the night in peace

Since it has had its day.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

Talking Writing Monster’s Page –

Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• The Licorice Fields at Pontefract poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• The Last Laugh poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• The Irish Unionist’s farewell to Greta Hellastrom in 1922 poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• The Hon. Sec. poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• The Cottage Hospital poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Sun and Fun poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• South London Sketch poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Slough poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Senex poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Seaside Golf poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• On a Portrait of a Deaf Man poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Myfanwy poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Mortality poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Middlesex poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Meditation on the A30 poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Loneliness poem – John Betjeman poems by John Betjeman
• Ireland With Emily poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Inexpensive Progress poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• In Westminster Abbey poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• How To Get On In Society poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

Doska or the Board – write anything

Search engines:

Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

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