Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SONG OF A WOMAN WITH TWINS, by MYRTLE EBERSTEIN First Line: Ou! Ou! Ou! Last Line: Ou! Ou! Ou! Subject(s): Twins | ||||||||
Ou! Ou! Ou! When I was young and little, And thought only of the mealies and the sun And the wet whispering river water, How could I tell what would befall me -- How could I know what should come to me! Why did the demons come? Why did they make me bear Two bodies at one birth? Ah, they were not like demons -- They were like little helpless man-children, Little and hungry, with curling hands and feet, Like the son I hoped to bear! All the night I screamed. And all the night I bore them -- Why did the witch-man's drum, beating by my head, Why did the witch-man's charms, smelling strong with enchantment -- Why did they not keep the demons From being born to me? My father gave him cowries, Cowries and a gun, Taken from a white man That he killed a year ago -- Slowly, slowly, For good and lasting magic That the gun should shoot straight. None had such a gun! And yet the demons came -- At my right breast a demon, At my left breast a demon, Sucking, sucking. Oh, the little hungry mouths, Oh, the little curling hands, That they will drown tonight! Ou! Ou! Ou! When I was little and young, Tumbling laughing in the sunshine, How should I know what would come to me? How should I know what would befall me? Ou! Ou! Ou! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE TWINS by HENRY SAMBROOKE LEIGH EYES AND EARS by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES A PROBLEM by GEORGE PARMLY DAY YLETTE AND YVONNE by WILSON PUGSLEY MACDONALD A TALE OF ELSINORE by WILLIAM MCGONAGALL THE TWINS by CHRISTOPHER DARLINGTON MORLEY MY LOVE COULD WALK by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES |
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