|
|
Voicework of CloudMountain Alan Drake |
 |
Update: |
   |
|||
| ANNE DUDLEY BRADSTREET (1612 - 1672) |
|
From The Works of Anne Bradstreet in Prose and Verse, Edited by John Harvard Ellis and printed by Abraham E. Cutter, 1867, in Charelstown, Mass. The text has been rendered in modern spelling. An historical reference to Anne Bradstreet can be found at the bottom of this page. |
|
|
|
|||
|
The Author to Her Book
|
|||
 |
Thou ill-form'd offspring of my feeble brain, Who after birth did'st by my side remain, Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise than true, Who thee abroad expos'd to public view, Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge, Where errors were not lessened (all may judge). At thy return my blushing was not small, My rambling brat (in print) should mother call. I cast thee by as one unfit for light, Thy visage was so irksome in my sight, Yet being mine own, at length affection would Thy blemishes amend, if so I could. I wash'd thy face, but more defects I saw, And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw. I stretcht thy joints to make thee even feet, Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet. In better dress to trim thee was my mind, But nought save home-spun cloth, i' th' house I find. In this array, 'mongst vulgars mayst thou roam. In critics' hands, beware thou dost not come, And take thy way where yet thou art not known. If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none; And for thy Mother, she alas is poor, Which caus'd her thus to send thee out of door. |
This is Anne Bradstreet's response to the unauthorized publication of her book of poems. The story goes that her minister brother-in-law (John Woodbridge) took her handwritten manuscript to the printer without without asking her. The book was published in 1678. | |
|
|
|||
|
Before the Birth of
One of Her Children |
|||
|
|
All 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 me These 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 have Let be interred in my oblivious grave; If any worth or virtue were in me, Let that live freshly in thy memory And 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 gains Look to my little babes, my dear remains. These O protect from step-dame'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. |
||
|
By night when
others soundly slept |
|||
| |
1. By night when others soundly slept And hath at once both ease and Rest, My waking eyes were open kept And so to lie I found it best. 2. I sought him whom my Soul did Love, With tears I sought him earnestly. He bow'd his ear down from Above. In vain I did not seek or cry. 3. My hungry Soul he fill'd with Good; He in his Bottle put my tears, My smarting wounds washt in his blood, And banisht thence my Doubts and fears. 4. What to my Saviour shall I give Who freely hath done this for me? I'll serve him here whilst I shall live And Loue him to Eternity. |
||
