Francis Macnamara

Diminutivus Ululans (To John Macnamara)

Wailing diminutive of me, be still

Or cry, but spare me that regretful tone,

Of sorrows elemental waxing shrill,

O you of living things the most alone!

Son, do you thus reproach me and make moan,

Because upon Love's chariot I did fly

And a horn winded in the great unknown,

Calling your atoms out to be an I?

Should I have let you in abeyance lie,

Disintegrate another million years?

Then use your life to teach you how to die

And pass again beyond the reach of tears,

Some day you may regret I dragged you thence,

Perhaps forgive the vast impertinence.