Poetry Performed Episode 033 - To My Mother by Lucretia Maria Davidson

Yesterday, we celebrated Mother’s Day here in the United States, and this week on poetry performed, we celebrate Mother’s with “To My Mother” by Lucretia Maria Davidson.

Before we get to this week’s poem, I want to invite the poets out there listening to our show to submit their poems for consideration for a future episode. You can learn more about submitting at our site, poemsandshorts.blogspot.com. Now, on with the show.

To My Mother by Lucretia Maria Davidson

O thou whose care sustained my infant years,
And taught my prattling lip each note of love;
Whose soothing voice breathed comfort to my fears,
And round my brow hope’s brightest garland wove;
To thee my lay is due, the simple song,
Which Nature gave me at life’s opening day;
To thee these rude, these untaught strains belong,
Whose heart indulgent will not spurn my lay.
O say, amid this wilderness of life,
What bosom would have throbbed like thine for me?
Who would have smiled responsive?—who in grief,
Would e’er have felt, and, feeling, grieved like thee?
Who would have guarded, with a falcon-eye,
Each trembling footstep or each sport of fear?
Who would have marked my bosom bounding high,
And clasped me to her heart, with love’s bright tear?
Who would have hung around my sleepless couch,
And fanned, with anxious hand, my burning brow?


Lucretia Maria Davidson lived a short 17 years, born in Plattsburgh, New York in 1808. Her writing was published following her death.