Classic and Contemporary Poetry
OUT IN THE DARK, by STEPHEN LUCIUS GWYNN Poet's Biography First Line: Oh, up the brae, and up and up, beyont the fairy thorn Last Line: Sure ye'd think there'd be one heaven for the mother an' the child. Subject(s): Children; Childhood | ||||||||
OH, up the brae, and up and up, beyont the fairy thorn, It's there they hae my baby laid, that died when he was born. Afore the priest could christen him to save his soul, he died; 'It never lived at all,' they said. -- 'Twas livin' in me side. For many a day an' many a night, an' weary night and day, I kent him livin' at my heart, I carena what they say. For many a day an' many a night I wearied o' unrest, But now I'm sore to hae my wean back hidden in my breast. He'll sure be thinkin' long for me, an' wearyin' his lone Up in thon corner by the whins wi' neither cross nor stone: Ay, tho' I'd died wi' him itself, they wouldna let us be -- The corner o' a field for him, the holy ground for me. Thare many a wean that lies wi' him, and none that got a name, Thare many a wife, hard put till it, was glad that dead they came, Ay, many a man that scarcely minds a child o' his lies there: But och! 'tis cruel hard to quit the first you'd ever bear. The graves are all that tiny that they'd hardly raise a mound, And couples o' a Sunday do be coortin' on thon ground, An' thare none that thinks upon them; but my heart'll be there still, On the sod among the bracken an' the whins upon the hill. I'd be feared to come o' night there, for the hill is fairy ground: But thare may be more nor fairies dancin' in the fairy round -- Och, an' if I only thought it! sure I'd let them do their worst, An' I'd go to see my baby, tho' I be to be accursed. But I'll never reach my wean now, neither here nor in the sod, An' I'm better wi' the Christians an' the souls that's saved for God -- Och, to feel his fingers on me, an' to clasp him when he smiled! Sure ye'd think there'd be one heaven for the mother an' the child. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE THE POET AT SEVEN by DONALD JUSTICE A SONG OF DEFEAT by STEPHEN LUCIUS GWYNN |
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