Mother - Guido Gezelle

No picture now
is left to me.
no portrait here
     below,
no likeness of
you, mother dear,
remains for me
     to show.

No drawing and
no photograph,
no chiselled thing
     of stone,
unless it be
that memory
you left in me
     alone.

Oh may I, all
unworthy, dear,
that picture ever
     cherish,
and honoured let
it live in me,
and honoured with me
     perish.

---

Guido Gezelle (1830 - 1899) Belgium
Translated by Clark and Frances Stillman
Source: Lyra Belgica I; Two Flemish Poets by Clark and Frances Stillman, Belgian Government Information Center, 1950