The Mother is a sad poem by Padraic Pearse. It is about a mother than raises her two boys, but then they die fighting for Irish independence.
Although the mother is proud that her sons fought and died for their country, she is still heartbroken that they are gone.
The Mother
I do not grudge them; Lord, I do not grudge
My two strong sons that I have seen go out
To break their strength and die, they and a few,
In bloody protest for a glorious thing.
They shall be spoken of among their people,
The generations shall remember them,
And call them blessed;
But I will speak their names to my own heart
In the long nights;
The little names that were familiar once
Round my dead hearth.
Lord, thou art hard on mothers:
We suffer in their coming and their going;
And tho’ I grudge them not, I weary, weary
Of the long sorrow — And yet I have my joy:
My sons were faithful, and they fought.
