Cambridge Poets 1900–1913

Aelfrida Tillyard . * A MOTHER, ON HER SON 'S 21st BIRTHDAY . M Y son is mine no more . He is a man , IVI And as a man he meets his life alone. I'm grown as some madonna carved of stone, To kneel before , to honour, and forget. He was the child I made and now a man I thought his very blood was mine ; I made his soul and with it did entwine My soul, my life , my very self - and yet He is not I , he stands alone, a man . He cannot see I made him as he is, Gave him the breath of beauty with my kiss, · Taught him the tune of pain , with eyelids wet . He loves me , but he needs me not . A man Needs but himself , and right ; but I — but I I need a child ; I need to hush its cry , And be the god on whom its eyes are set . * THE IRISH POET . M Y eyes are blue with gazing on thy deeps , IV My hair is rippled by thy wind , O sea , My lullaby thy song that never sleeps , As thou art limitless , so am I free . O sea , O mountains , make my song to be Mist of the mountains , foam of the sea . 194