Widow and Child by Alfred Tennyson

 Widow and Child 

by Alfred Tennyson

Home they brought her warrior dead;

She nor swooned, nor uttered cry;

All her maidens, watching, said,

"She must weep or she will die."

Then they praised him soft and low,

Called him worthy to be loved,

Truest friend and noblest foe;

Yet she neither spoke nor moved.

Stole a maiden from her place,

Lightly to the warrior stept,

Took a face-cloth from the face,

Yet she neither moved nor wept.

Rose a nurse of ninety years,

Set his child upon her knee-

Like summer tempest came her tears-

"Sweet my child, I live for thee."

"A sad but very beautiful lullaby. After the execution of the Clan Chief MacGregor of Glenstrae in 1570, his widow composed and sang this lullaby lament to her child."