To My Mother + 

Because I feel that, in the Heavens above, + 

The angels, whispering to one another, + 

Can find, among their burning terms of love, + 

None so devotional as that of вАЬMother,вАЭ + 

Therefore by that dear name I long have called youвБ†вАФ + 

You who are more than mother unto me, + 

And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you, + 

In setting my VirginiaвАЩs spirit free. + 

My motherвБ†вАФmy own mother, who died early, + 

Was but the mother of myself; but you + 

Are mother to the one I loved so dearly, + 

And thus are dearer than the mother I knew + 

By that infinity with which my wife + 

Was dearer to my soul than its soul-life. + 