Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE BIRTH TOKENS (VARIATION ON A THEME FROM MENANDER), by ANNE GOODWIN WINSLOW First Line: This is the place and we will leave him here Last Line: His history known, his lineage guessed. | ||||||||
This is the place and we will leave him here In the deep valley; when the sun is high Some warmth may reach him; That were good; Still better should Some kindly shepherd find him; Who can say? Even a wolf may yield him food. Nature is rich in resource and in care; He will not die; So place the tokens with him there And come away. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Now we have laid upon his lips a song Whose melody for him is all; Whose words but names shall not comprehend Of objects in a dream, Poor symbols without an end That drift and fall And sweep like leaves along The music of a stream. And we have bound a book upon his brow Whose signs he shall not understand, Though heaven and earth have set their hand Unto it and their wisdom given; But neither earth nor heaven Shall witness to another theme That he shall trace below The image and the pattern, nor declare How all its lines are fair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sound Are still his slumbers; look again; How like a blossom on the ground He lies! Yet though the earth shall strain His being to her breast And pour her life through every vein And lift her beauty to his eyes, He shall not be her own: Some day the tokens will be found; His history known, his lineage guessed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SAN MICHELE DI PAGANA by ANNE GOODWIN WINSLOW THE SPINNERS by ANNE GOODWIN WINSLOW THREE CHARACTERS by ANNE GOODWIN WINSLOW TO HIS TEACHER by ANNE GOODWIN WINSLOW THE BLACK MAMMY by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON WINTER EVENING by ARCHIBALD LAMPMAN PORTRAIT BY A NEIGHBOR by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY BY THE PACIFIC OCEAN by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER TWO RED ROSES ACROSS THE MOON by WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896) CHOEPHOROI: INVOCATION OF AGAMEMNON'S GHOST by AESCHYLUS |
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