Classic Poem

O mother, did you tire of me
Who lay so happy 'neath your heart?
Did you at last desire to be
Free of what in your life had part,
When, from the hiding of your womb,
You sent me forth to grope alone,
Out of your deep and lovely gloom,
Upon a highway of my own?

So quiet was I within your care,
So innocent of ill to come!
O mother, say, how could you bear
To thrust me out amid the hum
Of sounds that only lure to bring
Fear indescribable to me:
Of gathering waves that rise to fling
Me on the shores of misery?

Never shall I in safety creep
Back to the port from which I sailed,
Though to return I inly weep,
This chart, this compass—all has failed;
But I shall slowly steer my ship
Through the dread sea's foreboding doom,
Till I at last in safety slip
Into the haven of the tomb.