Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LITTLE EGO by ALFRED FRANCIS KREYMBORG

First Line: YOU MUSTN'T SMILE WHEN I STROKE YOUR HAIR
Last Line: WELL, WHAT ARE YOU SMILING AT NOW?
Subject(s): EGOISM & EGOTISM; HAIR;

You mustn't smile when I stroke your hair,
not yours to be proud of, this hair isn't yours:
If your mother hadn't liked your father,
your two grandmothers your two grandfathers,
your four great-grandmothers your four great-grandfathers,
your eight great-great-grandmothers your eight great-great-grandfathers:
well:
when you grow up,
and you like a boy,
and you two grow down,
you two have a child:
and that child a child,
that child a child,
child a child,
child a
great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchild:
well, what are you smiling at now?



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