Classic Poem

I

The music within the house is loud, the dancing swift. Outside
— A Woman . This one still peddling, this one's son—a thief!
This one dead and that one dead,
but she's done well.
— Another Woman . She worked hard.
— A Third Woman . What's going on?
— The First Woman . She's marrying off her younger daughter.
Now both children are married—
married well.
The elder daughter has two children and soon—a third.
The grandchildren will not have to start where she did.
— The Second Woman . She worked hard; now she eats the fruit of it.

II

— A Woman . Who's dead?
— Another . I don't know.
— The First Woman . Do you live on this block? Who's dead?
— A Third Woman . A woman died in childbed.
— The First Woman . What a heavy tread on the stairs! . . .
They are bringing down the coffin.

III

— A Woman . He is marrying again.
— Another . So soon?
— The First Woman . Why not?
Her children—
these need a mother.
— The Second Woman . But their grandmother?
— The First Woman . If in a drawer
she finds a trinket that her daughter used to wear,
or in a grandchild's face
sees her dead daughter and begins to cry—
the children have had enough of sorrow.

IV

— A Woman . Who's dead?
— Another . I don't know.
— The First Woman . Do you live on this block? Who's dead?
— Another . A young woman. She died in childbed.

V

— The Mother of the Dead Women . I had this lump of lead before
when my father died,
but I was younger and my blood warm enough
to melt it away;
now it will weigh me down into the grave.
This lump of ice was here before,
but my blood when younger
could warm it into tears.

VI

— A Woman to Another . If their mother lived,
would they be sent to work?
What else can children become in shops and offices?
If at least home—
but their home!