Gabriel City » prisoner’s mother http://gabrielcity.com Gabriel City is a community for the tens of millions of Americans directly affected by our criminal justice system. We come together to share our stories and help to shape new ones. Inmates and the formerly incarcerated, family members of those serving time, men and women under community supervision, professionals in criminal justice and corrections, and the victims of crime; we support and respect each other as we work to break the endless cycle of crime and incarceration that afflicts our nation. Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:18:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 The Prisoner’s Mother http://gabrielcity.com/poetry-and-spoken-word/the-prisoners-mother.html http://gabrielcity.com/poetry-and-spoken-word/the-prisoners-mother.html#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:14:52 +0000 hcdmedia http://gabrielcity.com/?p=1876 To be a prisoner’s mother
Is to fee a piercing dart
That sets the mind a-whirling
And almost cleaves the heart.

To be a prisoner’s mother
Is, upon a holiday,
To visit him in prison
Then part and go away.

To be a prisoner’s mother
‘Tis, inside the lonely wall,
To say, “Farewell, my darling”-
Oh, I almost faint and fall.

No resting place but heaven,
No happy morn that dawns;
Our home so drear and lonely
Because our boy is gone.

An empty bed, a missing plate,
A grief that inward burns;
No balm on earth to heal our hearts
until our boy returns.

“Honor and shame from no condition rise;
Act well your part, there all the honor lies.”

“The Prisoner’s Mother” by Mrs. S. E. Wirick (p.22 Prison Poetry, McKnight.)

Hiram Peck McKnight’s collection of prison poems from 1896 was republished in 2008 by Kessinger Publishing, LLC. The poems are available in hardcover from Amazon. Or you can read and download the poems on Google Books.

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