Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE FIRSTBORN by ARCHIBALD YOUNG CAMPBELL

First Line: WHILE THE CHILL DAWN WAS BREAKING, WITH MOIST EYE
Last Line: ONE MYSTERY AND THE SAME.
Subject(s): CHILDREN; CHILDHOOD;
WHILE the chill dawn was breaking, with moist eye,
Wonder, and heartbeat, joy, doubt, aching bones,
Finding strange magic in that wan, cold sky,
I, that had heard all night thy mother's groans,
First caught thy shrill, small cry.

Who parted life from life? What thing whence came?
How, in one instant, woke thy little soul?
Which moment earned for me a father's name?
These, and the grey dawn, o'er my senses stole,
One mystery and the same.



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