Five Children I Poem by David Lewis Paget

Five Children I
Once helped conceive,
I watched them grow
I watched them leave,
And each one left
A wound in me,
And some left two
And some left three.

And now when I
Cry out in pain
There’s not one left
To call my name,
There’s not one left
To grieve for me
Though I wept through
Each history.

But when they grow
They may conceive,
May learn to know
What wounds we leave,
And think back on
Some long despite
When I lay staring
Late at night.

2 October 1981