The Grief Of The Mother Poem by Francis Duggan

To her 'twill remain a painful memory
Of the only child she had who was lost to the sea
In his prime of life he had turned twenty three
And few as athletic or as healthy as he.

He did not return from an evening swim
The rumour has it 'twas a shark that got him
Frogmen searched the bay for many miles around
But never a trace of his body was found.

Her marvellous son who stood out in a crowd
He made her so happy of him she felt proud
The son she worked hard for to raise on her own
The grief of the mother she surely has known.

With none for to comfort her in her time of tears
The father of her son she has not seen for years
In the raising of their child he did not play a part
Though she loved him he left her with a love-lorn heart.

The sea took her only child ten years ago
And the grief of the mother she surely does know
Taken by a shark some venture to say
But as a mystery his disappearance forever will stay.