Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE FIRSTBORN, by VICTOR GUSTAVE PLARR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE FIRSTBORN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What time the night doth fall
Last Line: In small appear.
Subject(s): Children; Inheritance And Succession; Parents; Childhood; Parenthood


What time the night doth fall
Along the hall,
Filling the house with gloom,
In a warm room,
Beside the merry fire
Sits Heart's Desire.
Mother her form enfolds,
And father holds
One little rose-like hand.
With action bland
She clasps his middle finger.
Her sweet eyes linger
On things we cannot guess
Nor she express;
Yet at this fall of night
They are not quite
Alone in the dim room.
The pleasant gloom
Is populous, I think,
With such as shrink
From the day's glare and stir.
To gaze on her
Who is sole ultimate heir
Of all they were,
Forth from their nooks they glide,
Serene, grave-eyed;
Intangibly possess
The silence, press
About the little face
Wherein their race,
And all it held most dear
In small appear.
What loving hopes have they
For her to-day,
With what solicitude
Are they imbued!
Their course on earth is run—
'Twas lost or won!
But ah! this is a life
That fronts the strife!
Will that old race re-bloom
Or ere the tomb
Close on this innocent?
Shall their intent
Bear goodly flower and fruit
Upon this shoot?
Will she fail? Will she win?
The Jacobin
With melancholy brow
Broods on her now,
And he, the lateliest dead,
With noble head,
Grown grey in Wisdom's laws
And wageless cause,
Smiles with a questioning look
On this last Book!
Is her word Forward too?
Will she prove true
To the Tradition, seek
What they sought, speak
What they spoke, cherish still
A rational will,
A liberal studious mind,
A heart refined?
So small and weak she seems—
This babe, who dreams
Within our arms, and yet
Whole hosts do fret
In grave and anxious love
For what she'll prove!
Forth from their nooks they glide,
Serene, grave-eyed;
Intangibly possess
The silence, press
About the little face,
Wherein a race,
And all it held most dear,
In small appear.





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