“Against an ambivalent sky,/ Moving quick across the ground,/ A child ran/ Trying to catch the sun.”
Fifteen Children
I
She lay beside her sleeping child
And listened for the murmur
Of a long forgotten dream.
II
Against an ambivalent sky,
Moving quick across the ground,
A child ran
Trying to catch the sun.
III
I have watched the leaves grow old
And the trees rise up
And I have seen,
Now, after all,
That she is no longer a child.
IV
His cry rang out across soft acrid planes.
An empty lullaby
For a frantic child.
V
A river was swollen with the summer sun.
The gentle rays,
That cut the surface
Of her subtle tongue,
Were asking for a child
In time for Spring.
VI
For in the early dusk
Of a winter day,
It has been said,
That a child can hear
The slow dance of light.
VII
I sat behind a screaming child
And heard the sound of aged white linen.
VIII
Shadows danced on an old stone floor,
Like a child
We danced with them too.
IX
I sang the song of a child,
Hoping, that once
The song was over,
I would no longer be.
X
A child trapped in the winter sun.
He wished he wished again for snow.
XI
She did not fear the feet
Of a child that passed her by.
She lifted them, quietly
Off the ground.
XII
Why do you love
With the love
Of a child
And not of a man?
XIII
On a stage,
A child alone,
You felt free.
XIV
I want to be
Something greater than I am.
Every child wants to be
Something greater than I am.
XV
A starling
Falls prey
To the hands of a child.
Further Reading
“Turning the Earth by Force,” a poem, and “On Stevensian Musicality: Three Variations,” a critical reflection, also by Jonah Freud.