What meanwhile of a child of her, of me, -- Of womb of woman and of loins of man? -- A child of such a stock and born to be Nurtured in such convulsions? Did I ban From out my griefs a child? And did I save Some unborn creature, third in that mad line, Some lovely woman, from an insane grave, Some blue-eyed daughter that had still been mine? I did: we had no child, but yet from this, From this and dread lest on some morrow she Should witness nature's old fecundity, Stole morrow by morrow something from her kiss: Probe life, and know that this and such a dread Puts a black pall upon a marriage-bed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NOT ONE TO SPARE by ETHEL LYNN BEERS WHOLE DUTY OF CHILDREN by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON TO HIS WIFE by DECIMUS MAGNUS AUSONIUS SONNETS OF MANHOOD: SONNET 25. 'SOMETHING WAS WANTING' by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) PRINCE ARTHUR: THE CRYSTAL PALACES by RICHARD BLACKMORE WHERE THE DEAD MEN LIE by BARCROFT HENRY BOAKE |