Still-born
Still-born
Original Text
Ruth Gilbert, The Sunlit Hour: Poems (London, 1955): 21.
1You that no skill could stir, I feel you stirring
2A restless ghost within my haunted side;
3Your light feet thrust, your frail hands beat against me
4Asking the life eternally denied.
5You that I could not find, I wake to find you
6Shadowy head asleep upon my breast;
8Your image fades and I am dispossessed.
9O child who did not cry, you cry forever
10Through all my nights, and impotently I
11Rock anguished arms, and try in vain to hush you
12With stricken lullaby.
Notes
7] lean: lie down (OED, "lie," v.1, 1a). She goes to bed hungry, as if punished for misbehaviour. Back to Line
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2009
Rhyme
Form
Special Copyright
"Still-born" © Ruth Gilbert. Printed gratis, and specifically for Representative Poetry Online, with permission of the author. As published in <i>The Sunlit Hour</i> (1955). Any other use, including reproduction for any purposes, educational or otherwise, will require explicit written permission from Ruth Gilbert.