A Mother Remembers Poem by Francis Duggan

She silently stood watching the crystal drops of rain
Seemingly race each other adown the window pane
The memory of her late son still brought to her heart pain
And though he had been dead twelve years he still lived in her brain.

Though his father had forsaken her she raised the boy quite well
And the news of his death in the war was worse to her than hell,
Despite the gossip of the neighbour women which hurt her feelings bad
With the good help of her parents she worked to raise the lad.

Today is the anniversary of her beloved son's death
Twelve years ago from this day he drew his final breath,
He was only nineteen then such a young age to die
Far from home on a battlefield under a foreign sky.

She knows all the heartaches and disappointing sides of life
She had a son but her son's father did not make her his wife
She also had some happy moments watching her son grow
But a bullet ended that for her this time twelve years ago.

He had died a noble death and done the army proud
They gave him a hero's burial and the saluting guns rang loud
But he is near forgotten since save for a mention now and then
Of the fearless soldier who gave his life to rescue five trapped men.

A hero's burial was all he got for dying brave
And all she got for raising him is a tombstone o'er his grave
With an insciption written on it reading 'here a brave man lie
Who fighting for his Country in a foreign Land did die'.

She will go on living until her turn come to die
Not ceasing to remember her son the soldier boy
Who died on a battlefield twelve years ago today
Underneath a foreign sky many miles away.