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Ada Cambridge (1844 - 1926 / Australia)
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Ada Cambridge was born in Norfolk, England. When she married George Frederick Cross in 1870 she had already published works that revealed her strong r .. more >>
9 poems of Ada Cambridge
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The Virgin Martyr

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  Every wild she-bird has nest and mate in the warm April weather,
But a captive woman, made for love -- no mate, no nest has she.
In the spring of young desire, young men and maids are wed together,
And the happy mothers flaunt their bliss for all the world to see:
Nature's sacramental feast for these -- an empty board for me.

I, a young maid once, an old maid now, deposed, despised, forgotten --
I, like them have thrilled with passion and have dreamed of nuptial rest,
Of the trembling life within me of my children unbegotten,
Of a breathing new-born body to my yearning bosom prest,
Of the rapture of a little soft mouth drinking at my breast.

Time, that heals so many sorrows, keeps mine ever freshly aching;
Though my face is growing furrowed and my brown hair turning white,
Still I mourn my irremediable loss, asleep or waking --
Still I hear my son's voice calling "mother" in the dead of night,
And am haunted by my girl's eyes that will never see the light.

O my children that I might have had! my children, lost for ever!
O the goodly years that might have been -- now desolate and bare!
O malignant God or Fate, what have I done that I should never
Take my birthright like the others, take the crown that women wear,
And possess the common heritage to which all flesh is heir?

Ada Cambridge


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Read poems about / on: children, april, weather, loss, women, passion, girl, son, fate, woman, nature, spring, together, happy, hair, mother, lost, light, god, world

 
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11/22/2009 12:31:47 AM. #.34# You Are Here: The Virgin Martyr by Ada Cambridge

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