Anne Bradstreet, the first woman poet published in colonial America, was married at age 16. She had eight children: 3 boys and 4 girls. In 1657, she was living in North Andover, Massachusetts, when her eldest son, Samuel, age 25, embarked on a journey to London on the ship, Royal Exchange. Concerned for her son’s safety on a voyage fraught with danger, Anne wrote this evocative poem.

Upon my Son, Samuel His Goeing for England, Novem. 6, 1657

by Anne Bradstreet

Thou mighty God of Sea and Land

I here resigne into thy hand

The son of prayers, of vows and tears,

The child I stay’d for many years.

Thou heardst me then and gave’st him me,

Hear me again, I give him to Thee.

He’s mine, but more, Of Lord, thine own

For sure thy grace on him is shown.

No friend I have like thee to trust,

For mortal helps are brittle dust.

Preserve, O Lord from storms and wrack,

Protect him there, and bring him back;

And if thou shalt spare me a space,

That I again may see his face,

Then shall I celebrate Thy praise

And bless thee for’t even all my days.

If otherwise I go to rest

Thy will be done, for that is best;

Persuade my heart I shall him see

For ever happefy’d with thee.