War Cry - February, 2013 Page 33

When their North Andover home burned
to the ground, and she with her family
were bereft of everything they owned,
she could still write:

And when I could no longer look,
I blest His grace that gave and took,
That laid my goods now in the dust.
Yea, so it was, and so `twas just.
It was His own; it was not mine.
Far be it that I should repine.

Anne Bradstreet died at age 60, having
fought small pox, tuberculosis and, finally,
paralysis that overtook her joints. But
before she left this world, her poetry was
published in London in 1658, including
the volume titled The Tenth Muse. The
people of England learned that the
colonies had their educated people and
culture too.

A long poem, written after the burning

of her home, shows the trust Anne Brad-
street had in God. The closing lines read:

Farewell, my pelf; farewell, my store.
The world no longer let me love;
My hope and Treasure lies above.

The centuries following her death have
kept alive her poetry and her love.

ROGER PALMS

Roger Palms lives in Fort Myers, FL.

Valentines Day is Thursday, February 14th

Poet

Anne

Bradstreet

Love

She married at age 16 and then, with her husband Simon,
left England for Massachusetts aboard the Arabella. De-
spite the hardships of the New World, Anne Bradstreet,
who was born in 1612, became the first woman to be a
published poet either in America or England.

On Valentine's Day we read the words of this woman,

this mother of eight children, in this poem:

To My Dear and Loving Husband
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee.
If every wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persevere
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

Here was a well-educated woman in a time when women
were encouraged neither mentally nor academically. She
was schooled in history and literature, learned several
languages and had a personal library of 800 books.
With her husband and father, Anne Bradstreet was
instrumental in the founding of Harvard College in 1636.
She loved God deeply, showing her faith in the words:

I sought Him whom my Soul did Love,
With tears I sought Him earnestly.
He bow'd His ear down from Above.
In vain I did not seek or cry.

My hungry Soul He fill'd with Good;
He in His Bottle put my tears,
My smarting wounds washed in His blood,
And banished thence my Doubts and fears.

What to my Savior shall I give
Who freely hath done this for me?
I'll serve Him here whilst I shall live
And Love Him to Eternity.

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