University of Virginia Library


137

Epitaph on an Infant

House upon the Earth, be sad,
Lacking me thou might'st have had!. . .
Many aeons did I wait
For admission to the Gate
Of the Living. But to see
Much was not vouchsafed to me,
Dazzled, in my little span.
I, that hoped to be a man,
Like a snowflake incarnated
Seem for three days' light created.
I saw two Eyes, and break of Day,
Gold on spires of Nineveh.
But, ere I one comrade made,
Or with a fellow Beastling played—
Even while voices I forget
Called from cloud and minaret
Men to wake—I stood once more
With the Dreams, outside the door.