--A poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson

My all time favorite...such moving words..
so much like listening to a melancholy tune...

Home they brought her warrior dead:
She nor swooned, nor uttered cry:
All her maidens, watching, said,
‘She must weep or she will die.’

Then they praised him, soft and low,
Called him worthy to be loved,
Truest friend and noblest foe;
Yet she neither spoke nor moved.

Stole a maiden from her place,
Lightly to the warrior stepped,
Took the face-cloth from the face;
Yet she neither moved nor wept.

Rose a nurse of ninety years,
Set his child upon her knee—
Like summer tempest came her tears—
‘Sweet my child, I live for thee.’

without using so many words, it portrays the sorrow of the wife..her obstinacy to die..bringing out the love for her hero..
The poet builds the drama, getting us worried about the wife...then finally shows us what makes her break..
The stanza
"Rose a nurse of ninety years,
Set his child upon her knee—
Like summer tempest came her tears—
‘Sweet my child, I live for thee.’"

is a seperate poem by itself.....
When everything else fails to ivoke a response ,an elderly woman who is portrayed as an expert in understanding emotions...senses the wife's instincts..
'Set his child upon her knee—'
the precious gift he has left her makes her break down!

This is one poem where the poet takes you on an emotional tour !