A Growing-Up Son

It seems but such a little while

Since he was playing at my knee,

And when I spoke to him, my eyes

Would downward turn his face to see.

And now, in just a few short years,

(O God, how short the years can be!)

My eyes must upward turn, for then

He will be looking down on me.

Dear God, if in the years gone by

I have been in some measure fit

To merit childhood’s upturned gaze,

And only quail a little bit,

Please help me in the coming years

A nobler woman yet to be—

That when his eyes must downward turn,

His soul will still look up to me.

          –Dorothy Markham Brown