VII.
He remembers his father and her father
talking just before the birth of Maud.
I
Did I hear it half in a doze
Long since, I know not where?
Did I dream it an hour ago,
When asleep in this arm-chair?
II
Men were drinking together,
Drinking and talking of me;
‘Well, if it prove a girl, the boy
Will have plenty: so let it be.’
III
Is it an echo of something
Read with a boy's delight,
Viziers nodding together
In some Arabian night?
IV
Strange, that I hear two men,
Somewhere, talking of me;
‘Well, if it prove a girl, my boy
Will have plenty: so let it be.’