Lyric Poem · Poems About Mom
Mother o' Mine
by Rudyard Kipling · 1891
If I were hanged on the highest hill,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose love would follow me still,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
If I were drowned in the deepest sea,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
I know whose tears would come down to me,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose prayers would make me whole,
Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Mother o' Mine” by Rudyard Kipling — quilloak.com/poems/mother-o-mine
Quick facts
- Poem
- Mother o' Mine
- Poet
- Rudyard Kipling
- Published
- 1891
- Length
- 11 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Short Poems
- Themes
- Poems About Mom, Love, Short
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 11 lines · 3 stanzas of 3–4 lines
- End rhyme
- ABAB in 67% of the stanzas — alternate rhyme. The remaining stanzas vary, often through slant rhyme.
- Line length
- Mostly 9-syllable lines.
- Refrain
- “Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine!”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Rudyard Kipling1865–1936
- Source record
- WikisourceMother o' Mine by rudyard-kipling, Wikisource transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1891
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 acd759f61172d6c6…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
Keep reading
Bake Until Done
The QuillOak Editors
9 lines · free verse
First Call
The QuillOak Editors
8 lines · lyric
The Only School That Mattered
The QuillOak Editors
8 lines · free verse