Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


STRANGER by HARRIET GRAY BLACKWELL

First Line: I HELD HIM FIRST WHEN HE WAS SIX WEEKS OLD
Last Line: I SHALL HAVE BORNE TRIUMPHANTLY A SON.
Subject(s): ADOPTION; SONS;

I held him first when he was six weeks old
And he has lived twelve years within my heart,
I thought it would be simple then to mold
Him with the skill that is a mother's art.
Sometimes our bond is torn with hurt surprise,
Two beings, worlds apart, not reconciled
In thought or flesh. I plumb this stranger's eyes
And try to fathom my adopted child.
The travail of most women ends at birth
But mine continues, deluged with a stream
Of alien blood. Unwilling to unearth
The fact of records that might mar my dream
I labor in the dark -- When I have done
I shall have borne triumphantly a son.



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