Read "To an Unborn Pauper Child" by Thomas Hardy online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
I. BREATHE not, hid Heart: cease silently, / And though thy birth-hour beckons thee, / Sleep the long sleep: / The Doomsters heap / Travails and teens around us here, / And Time-wraiths turn our songsingings to fear.
II. Hark, how the peoples surge and sigh, / And laughters fail, and greetings die: / Hopes dwindle; yea, / Faiths waste away, / Affections and enthusiasms numb; / Thou canst not mend these things if thou dost come.