My Commonplace Book - To A Child Embracing His Mother by Thomas Hood

My Commonplace Book

May. 7, 2006

To A Child Embracing His Mother by Thomas Hood

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LOVE thy mother, little one!
Kiss and clasp her neck again--
Hereafter she may have a son
Will kiss and clasp her neck in vain.
Love thy mother, little one!

Gaze upon her living eyes,
And mirror back her love for thee,--
Hereafter thou mayst shudder sighs
To meet them when they cannot see.
Gaze upon her living eyes!

Press her lips the while they glow
With love that they have often told,--
Hereafter thou mayst press in woe,
And kiss them till thine own are cold.
Press her lips the while they glow!

Oh, revere her raven hair!
Although it be not silver-gray--
Too early Death, led on by Care,
May snatch save one dear lock away.
Oh, revere her raven hair!

Pray for her at eve and morn,
That Heaven may long the stroke defer;--
For thou mayst live the hour forlorn
When thou wilt ask to die with her.
Pray for her at eve and morn!

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Commonplace books are a means of coping with information overload! They help us select, organize, classify, and remember key moral precepts. "When it came time to put away childish things, the role of the copy book was assumed by its close cousin, the "commonplace book." The process of maturation required the production of more-personal collections of writings, meant to provide inspiration, direction, and moral fortitude. Reading the commonplace books of historical figures like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or any number of antebellum Southern ladies gives us an interior view of each person's self-image and the words that motivated him or her. -- Rachel Toor "Commonplaces: From Quote Books to 'Sig' Files" The Chronicle of Higher Education May 25, 2001"