Ecce Puer by James Augustine Aloysius Joyce

Of the dark past
A child is born;
With joy and grief
My heart is torn.

Calm in his cradle
The living lies.
May love and mercy
Unclose his eyes!

Young life is breathed
On the glass;
The world that was not
Comes to pass.

A child is sleeping:
An old man gone.
O, father forsaken,
Forgive your son!

From: http://www.lit.kobe-u.ac.jp/~hishika/eccepuer.htm

Date: 1932

By: James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (1882-1941)

Tags: 1932, ecce puer, james augustine aloysius joyce, of the dark past, poetry