The Samphire Gatherer
Nora Hopper Chesson
1871 to 1906
Track 1
Reconstruct the poem by dragging each line into its correct position. Your goal is to reassemble the original poem as accurately as possible. As you move the lines, you'll see whether your arrangement is correct, helping you explore the poem's flow and meaning. You can also print out the jumbled poem to cut up and reassemble in the classroom. Either way, take your time, enjoy the process, and discover how the poet's words come together to create something truly beautiful.
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So the brave mother clambers day by day,
And fain would loosen steady hand or knee,
But hungry mouths must feed while he's away,
The sun that burns and sears.
And always Death about her labour sings,
No such brave heart as she.
Halfway 'twixt sky and sea:
Where flashing shoals of silver dolphins play.
Though Danger be her neighbour and her guest.
And home is far below; and in that nest
Is of that school of saints that wear no bay,
At grips with the great sea. She has no fears,
That strength is made a mock
The samphire sways and dangles overhead
That has but known for years on weary years
Their father tosses on the open sea,
The touch of sea-gulls' wings, the sea that rears
But do God's work the still and splendid way.
And pulls the samphire trails, and knows not she
She sees made manifest
Here in the pendulous weed that tempts her tread
And cast her down among life's broken things,
Are little hungry mouths that must be fed,
But treads with naked feet the stair of rock
Her waves against it with recurrent shock,
The samphire gatherer to the cliff-face clings
But danger shakes with fitful murmurings
The gulls are crying in her heedless ears
Night brings her little children to her knee
Upon so wild and dangerous a quest.
For daily bread to pray;
She has no fears because her daily bread
She has but youth and courage for her wings,