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: but I only know the last line. Please Help me ASAP. The last line is: : : : : Richer am I by far because My Mother read to me. : : : : THE READING MOTHER : : In last February's edition, we mentioned that Strickland Gillilan, author of The World's Shortest Poem, (FLEAS: Adam/Had 'em) had also composed a piece called The Reading Mother. We quoted these eight lines, which are repeated thousands of times throughout the English-speaking world every Mothers' Day: : : I had a Mother who read me things : : That wholesome life to a child's heart brings : : Stories that stir with an upward touch. : : Oh that every Mother were such! : : You may have tangible wealth untold : : Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. : : Richer than I you can never be. : : I had a Mother who read to me. : : One of our U.S. readers, Rosie Kolodziejczyk, of Kingsland, Georgia, has e-mailed us: : : There is more to the poem than what you printed. A copy was given to me as a Mother's Day gift by my own mother, because I have always read to my children. It is one of my most prized possessions. : : It was a newspaper clipping. Probably out of the Dear Abby column or something of that nature. I keep it in a small frame on the sill of my kitchen window. It helps me keep things in perspective and resist the urge to just let the kids watch t.v. before bed :-). : : Here's the complete poem: : : THE READING MOTHER : : Strickland Gillilan : : I HAD A MOTHER who read to me : : Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea, : : Cutles clenched in their yellow teeth, : : "Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath : : I had a Mother who read me lays : : Of ancient and gallant and golden days; : : Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe, : : Which every boy has a right to know. : : I had a Mother who read me tales : : Of Celert the hound of the hills of Wales, : : True to his trust till his tragic death, : : Faithfulness blent with his final breath. : : I had a Mother who read me the things : : That wholesome life to the boy heart brings- : : Stories that stir with an upward touch, : : Oh, that each mother of boys were such. : : You may have tangible wealth untold; : : Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. : : Richer than I you can never be -- : : I had a Mother who read to me.

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