OUT OF THE FOG
So for each child. . . .
All this, and the wedding and wooing before,
And the girlhood's myriad incidents,
And another narrowing gate, and so unending,
All this is motherhood.
All this, and the wedding and wooing before,
And the girlhood's myriad incidents,
And another narrowing gate, and so unending,
All this is motherhood.
IV.
The father beside—had he no part in this?
As spark to the fuel, as breathing to the body,
As the current to the motionless subway train,
So had he been.
In the dark cavern of mating
A part of him, vibrant and seeking, urged forth,
Avidly finding its goal, before the child began.
This part of him had been shaped in his inner being
Out of the air and food,
Out of growing plant and breathless soil
Gathered from lost byfields of the earth,
Ceylon, Sumatra, Alberta, Louisiana,
By hordes of his laboring brothers,
Each with his own world of incidents. . . .
All of these are in fatherhood.
The father beside—had he no part in this?
As spark to the fuel, as breathing to the body,
As the current to the motionless subway train,
So had he been.
In the dark cavern of mating
A part of him, vibrant and seeking, urged forth,
Avidly finding its goal, before the child began.
This part of him had been shaped in his inner being
Out of the air and food,
Out of growing plant and breathless soil
Gathered from lost byfields of the earth,
Ceylon, Sumatra, Alberta, Louisiana,
By hordes of his laboring brothers,
Each with his own world of incidents. . . .
All of these are in fatherhood.
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