Ou! Ou! Ou! When I was young and little, And thought only of the mealies and the sun And the wet whispering river water, How could I tell what would befall me -- How could I know what should come to me! Why did the demons come? Why did they make me bear Two bodies at one birth? Ah, they were not like demons -- They were like little helpless man-children, Little and hungry, with curling hands and feet, Like the son I hoped to bear! All the night I screamed. And all the night I bore them -- Why did the witch-man's drum, beating by my head, Why did the witch-man's charms, smelling strong with enchantment -- Why did they not keep the demons From being born to me? My father gave him cowries, Cowries and a gun, Taken from a white man That he killed a year ago -- Slowly, slowly, For good and lasting magic That the gun should shoot straight. None had such a gun! And yet the demons came -- At my right breast a demon, At my left breast a demon, Sucking, sucking. Oh, the little hungry mouths, Oh, the little curling hands, That they will drown tonight! Ou! Ou! Ou! When I was little and young, Tumbling laughing in the sunshine, How should I know what would come to me? How should I know what would befall me? Ou! Ou! Ou! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CONFLICT by CECIL DAY LEWIS FANCIES AT NAVESINK: 2 by WALT WHITMAN POEM FOR PICTURE: TO A PORTRAIT BY EDWARD STEICHEN (RACHMANINOFF) by FRANK ANKENBRAND JR. THE LAMENT: A BALLAD by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD URANIA; THE WOMAN IN THE MOON: THE SECOND CANTO, OR FIRST QUARTER by WILLIAM BASSE GIRLS! PASS ALONG! by PIERRE JEAN DE BERANGER ON THE NIGHT EXPRESS by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE |