An Old Doll

Low on her little stool she sits

To make a nursing lap,

And cares for nothing but the form

Her little arms enwrap.

With hairless skull that gapes apart,

A broken plaster ball,

One chipped glass eye that squints askew,

And ne’er a nose at all-

No raddle left on grimy cheek,

No mouth that one can see-

It scarce discloses, at a glance,

What it was meant to be.

But something in the simple scheme

As it extends below

(It is the “tidy” from my chair

That she is rumpling so)-

A certain folding of the stuff

That winds the thing about

(But still permits the sawdust gore

To trickle down and out)-

The way it curves around her waist,

On little knees outspread-

Implies a body frail and dear,

Whence one infers a head.

She rocks the scarecrow to and fro,

With croonings soft and deep,

A lullaby designed to hush

The bunch of rags to sleep.

I ask what rubbish has she there.

“My dolly,” she replies,

But tone and smile and gesture say,

“My angel from the skies.”

Ineffable the look of love

Cast on the hideous blur

That somehow means a precious face,

Most beautiful, to her.

The deftness and the tenderness

Of her caressing hands . . . . . .

How can she possibly divine

For what the creature stands?

Herself a nurseling, that has seen

The summers and the snows

Of scarce five years of baby life.

And yet she knows-she knows.

Just as a puppy of the pack

Knows unheard huntsman’s call,

And knows it is a running hound

Before it learns to crawl.

Just as she knew, when hardly born,

The breast unseen before,

And knew-how well!-before they touched,

What milk and mouth were for.

So, by some mystic extra-sense

Denied to eyes and ears,

Her spirit communes with its own

Beyond the veil of years.

She hears unechoing footsteps run

On floors she never trod,

Sees lineaments invisible

As is the face of God-

Forms she can recognise and greet,

Though wholly hid from me.

Alas! a treasure that is not,

And that may never be.

The majesty of motherhood

Sits on her baby brow;

Before her little three-legged throne

My grizzled head must bow.

That dingy bundle in her arms

Symbols immortal things-

A heritage, by right divine,

Beyond the claims of kings.

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External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

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Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• Epigram—Divine Service at Lamington by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Epigram—Commissary Goldie’s Brains by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Epigram at RoslinInn by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Epigram at Brownhill Inn by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Epigram Addressed to an Artist by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Elegy on Willie Nicol’s Mare by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Elegy on the Year 1788 by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Elegy on the late Miss Burnet of Monboddo by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Elegy on the Death of Sir James Hunter Blair by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Elegy on the Death of Robert Ruisseaux by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Elegy on Stella by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Elegy on Captain Matthew Henderson by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Election Ballad for Westerha’ by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Election Ballad at close of Contest for representing the Dumfries Burghs, 1790 by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Duncan Gray by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Dialogue Song—Philly and Willy by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Despondency: An Ode by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Delia: An Ode by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Complimentary versicles to Jessie Lewars by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Complimentary Epigram to Mrs. Riddell by Robert Burns by Robert Burns

More external links (open in a new tab):

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Doska or the Board – write anything

Search engines:

Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

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