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ReadingWillow structured literacy program for Australian students
Poetry Library

— Stephen Crane

I looked here;

I looked there;

Nowhere could I see my love.

And--this time--

…

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adjective

Telling the truth or giving a true result; exact; not defective or faulty

“accurate knowledge”

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Before the Birth of One of Her Children

28 lines
Anne Bradstreet·1612–1672
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ll things within this fading world hath end,Adversity doth still our joys attend;No ties so strong, no friends so dear and sweet,But with death's parting blow are sure to meet.The sentence past is most irrevocable,A common thing, yet oh, inevitable.How soon, my Dear, death may my steps attend,How soon't may be thy lot to lose thy friend,We both are ignorant, yet love bids meThese farewell lines to recommend to thee,That when the knot's untied that made us one,I may seem thine, who in effect am none.And if I see not half my days that's due,What nature would, God grant to yours and you;The many faults that well you know I haveLet be interred in my oblivious grave;If any worth or virtue were in me,Let that live freshly in thy memoryAnd when thou feel'st no grief, as I no harmes,Yet love thy dead, who long lay in thine arms,And when thy loss shall be repaid with gainsLook to my little babes, my dear remains.And if thou love thyself, or loved'st me,These O protect from stepdame's injury.And if chance to thine eyes shall bring this verse,With some sad sighs honor my absent hearse;And kiss this paper for thy dear love's sake,Who with salt tears this last farewell did take.
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