Infancy

Infancy written by William Henry Davies

From "The Bird of Paradise", 1914

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Born to the world with my hands clenched,
  I wept and shut my eyes;
Into my mouth a breast was forced,
  To stop my bitter cries.
I did not know - nor cared to know -
  A woman from a man;
Until I saw a sudden light,
  And all my joys began.

From that great hour my hands went forth,
  And I began to prove
That many a thing my two eyes saw
  My hands had power to move:
My fingers now began to work,
  And all my toes likewise;
And reaching out with fingers stretched,
  I laughed, with open eyes.

This work is in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less.