And at the foot of a grave a mother kneels After much struggling and loss in love and in the world of man, the protagonist throws in his lot with a woman who is already married. Together they go into another country, she perforce leaving her children behind. The conflict of love and hate goes on between the man and the woman, and between these two and the world around them, till it reaches some sort of conclusion, they transcend into some condition of blessedness!

no, nor even milk and honey. they will never understand my weeping for joy

The mother in you, fierce as a murderess, glaring of earth, winter-pressed, strangled in corruption; and a thing to be afraid of,