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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ON THE DEATH OF AN INFANT OF FIVE DAYS OLD, by ELIZABETH BOYD Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: How frail is human life! How fleet our breath Last Line: And the shocked father tear for tear return. Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies | |||
How frail is human life! How fleet our breath, Born with the symptoms of approaching death! What dire convulsions rend a mother's breast, When by a first-born son's decease distressed. Although an embryo, an abortive boy, Thy wond'rous beauties give a wond'rous joy: Still flattering Hope a flattering idea gives, And, whilst the birth can breathe, we say it lives. With what kind warmth the dear-loved babe was pressed: The darling man was with less love caressed! How dear, how innocent, the fond embrace! The father's form all o'er, the father's face, The sparkling eye, gay with a cherub smile, Some flying hours the mother-pangs beguile; The pretty mouth a Cupid's tale expressed, In amorous murmurs, to the full-swoll'n breast. If angel infancy can so endear, Dear angel-infants must command a tear. Oh! could the stern-souled sex but know the pain, Or the soft mother's agonies sustain, With tenderest love the obdurate heart would burn, And the shocked father tear for tear return. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LOST CHILDREN by RANDALL JARRELL THE MOURNER by LOUISE MOREY BOWMAN MELANCHOLY; AN ODE by WILLIAM BROOME SISTERS IN ARMS by AUDRE LORDE A BOTANICAL TROPE by WILLIAM MEREDITH FOR MOHAMMED ZEID OF GAZA, AGE 15 by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE FROM THE GREATER TESTAMENT (XXII, XXIII, AND XXVI) by FRANCOIS VILLON ST. FRANCIS EINSTEIN OF THE DAFFODILS (FIRST VERSION) by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS |
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