| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | Mother Wept | | By Joseph Skipsey (1832–1903) |
| | | MOTHER wept, and father sigh’d; | |
| With delight aglow | |
| Cried the lad, ‘To-morrow’, cried, | |
| ‘To the pit I go.’ | |
| |
| Up and down the place he sped,— | 5 |
| Greeted old and young; | |
| Far and wide the tidings spread; | |
| Clapt his hands and sung. | |
| |
| Came his cronies; some to gaze | |
| Wrapp’d in wonder; some | 10 |
| Free with counsel; some with praise; | |
| Some with envy dumb. | |
| |
| ‘May he’, many a gossip cried, | |
| ‘Be from peril kept.’ | |
| Father hid his face and sigh’d, | 15 |
| Mother turn’d and wept. | | | | |
|
|
