The Christening
The Christening
Original Text
S. M. B. Piatt, "The Christening," Atlantic Monthly 53.320 (June 1884): 779.
1In vain we broider cap and cloak, and fold
2 The long robe, white and rare;
3In vain we serve on dishes of red gold,
4 Perhaps, the rich man's fare;
5In vain we bid the fabled folk who bring
6 All gifts the world holds sweet:
7This one, forsooth, shall give the child to sing;
8 To move like music this shall charm its feet;
9 This help the cheek to blush, the heart to beat.
10Unto the christening there shall surely come
12The evil mother, weird and wise, with some
13 Sad purpose in her breast.
14Yea and though every spinning-wheel be stilled
15 In all the country round,
16Behold, her prophecy must be fulfilled;
17 The turret with the spindle will be found,
18 And the white hand will reach and take the wound.
Notes
11] This is the story of Sleeping Beauty, the daughter of a king and queen for whose christening they invited twelve of the thirteen wise women known in the realm. However, the thirteenth showed up unexpectedly just as the twelfth was to give her gift to the baby. Outraged at the snub, the thirteenth, uninvited guest set a curse on the girl: at fifteen years old she would die by accidentally pricking her finger on a spindle. The twelfth wise woman could not remove the curse, but she ameliorated it so that the girl would fall into a one-hundred-years sleep. So it came to pass. And who should wake the girl, at the end of that time, but a handsome prince who woke her with a kiss. They then got married and lived ... happily ever after. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1884
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2004
Rhyme