DO NOT THIS WORLD ALONE
I awoke again this morning in a black mood. Then as dawn approached and I lay in bed thinking of my as yet unborn grandchildren this poem came to me and the dark passed.
For you are young and sweet
But I am old and doomed
I’m summoned to my sleep
Yet you have yet to bloom
I tremble as I walk
You’ve yet to take a step
I mutter as I talk
You babble joy instead
You’ve yet to know the dark
I search the night for light
To everything you hark
My memories I fight
Dawn she calls to you
Dusk she calls to me
To you it all seems true
I’ve been too long deceived
You laugh and coo and crawl
I’m stooped and bent and broke
I’m burdened with it all
You’re free of weight and yoke
You see just what is near
I’ve seen things from afar
My eyes drowned in my tears
Your sight is still unmarred
You hear the small birds sing
You wonder at their calls
I hear the echoed screams
I know what soon befalls
If I could by (buy) some wish
Shield you from what comes
Would that be damned foolish
Or work of High Wisdom?
I do not know my child
I never knew with me
The world was often wild
Most bloodily conceived
I will tell you this
For it is all I’ve known
Keep God deep in your heart
Do not this world alone
or, variantly:
(Do not this world bemoan)
(You’ll not this world atone)
Wyrdwend 