“The sweetest name this earth around,
The sweetest word in all speech found,
Is ‘Mother!’
Yes; none so deep and tender seems,
Comes quicklier, with such fond thoughts teems,
As ‘Mother!’
And most of all, its music shows,
Lisped from a baby’s lips of rose,
‘Ah, Mother!’
Laughed from a baby’s lightsome eye,
Babbled from heart of infancy,
‘My Mother!’
Yes; she to whom the dear name’s said
Has all her life great goodlihead
As ‘Mother!’
But whoso had it, and has lost,
Sees earthly happiness quite crossed--
Sad Mother!”
--_Translated by Sir Edwin Arnold._