Proud? Perhaps—and yet I cannot say with surety That I am happy thus to be Responsible for this young life's embarking. Is he not thrall to prevalent conditions? Does not the day loom dark apace To weave its cordon of disgrace Around his lifted throat? Is not this mezzotint enough and surfeit For such prescience? Ah, did I dare Recall the pulsing life I gave, And fold him in the kindly grave! Proud? Perhaps—could I but ever so faintly scan The broad horizon of a man Swept fair for his dominion— So hesitant and half-afraid I view this babe of sorrow! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE DOLL BELIEVERS by CLARENCE MAJOR LOVE IN BLACK AND WHITE by KAREN SWENSON THE BAT by CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON |