To an Unborn Pauper Child
Thomas Hardy
1840 to 1928
Track 1
Reconstruct the poem by dragging each line into its correct position. Your goal is to reassemble the original poem as accurately as possible. As you move the lines, you'll see whether your arrangement is correct, helping you explore the poem's flow and meaning. You can also print out the jumbled poem to cut up and reassemble in the classroom. Either way, take your time, enjoy the process, and discover how the poet's words come together to create something truly beautiful.
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Breathe not, hid Heart: cease silently,
Affections and enthusiasms numb:
Travails and teens around us here,
And put it to thee: Wilt thou take Life so?
But I am weak as thou and bare;
The Doomsters heap
Thou canst not mend these things if thou dost come.
Had I the ear of wombed souls
Sleep the long sleep:
One tear, one qualm,
Hark, how the peoples surge and sigh,
Unreasoning, sanguine, visionary-
Hopes dwindle; yea,
Though skies spout fire and blood and nations quake.
Explain none can
That I can hope
Health, love, friends, scope
Faiths waste away,
Must come and bide. And such are we-
To cease, or be,
Fain would I, dear, find some shut plot
Life's pending plan:
And though thy birth-hour beckons thee,
Joys seldom yet attained by humankind!
Ere their terrestrial chart unrolls,
Of earth's wide wold for thee, where not
Then would I tell thee all I know,
Vain vow! No hint of mine may hence
And laughters fail, and greetings die;
Should break the calm.
Thou wilt thy ignorant entry make
No man can change the common lot to rare.
To theeward fly: to thy locked sense
And Time-Wraiths turn our songsingings to fear.
In full for thee; can dream thou'lt find
And thou wert free