The only Son by Rudyard Kipling — Read

She dropped the bar, she shot the bolt, she fed the fire anew, / For she heard a whimper under the sill and a great grey paw came through. / The fresh flame comforted the hut and shone on the roof-beam, / And the Only Son lay down again and dreamed that he dreamed a dream. / The last ash fell from the withered log with the click of a falling spark, / And the Only Son woke up again, and called across the dark: -- / 'Now was I born of womankind and laid in a mother's breast? / For I have dreamed of a shaggy hide whereon I went to rest? / And was I born of womankind and laid on a father's arm? / For I have dreamed of clashing teeth that guarded me from harm. / And was I born an Only Son and did I play alone? / For I have dreamed of comrades twain that bit me to the bone. / And did I break the barley-cake and steep it in the tyre? / For I have dreamed of a youngling kid new-riven from the byre. / For I have dreamed of a midnight sky and a midnight call to blood, / And red-mouthed shadows racing by, that thrust me from my food. / 'Tis an hour yet and an hour yet to the rising of the moon, / But I can see the black roof-tree as plain as it were noon. / 'Tis a league and a league to the Lena Falls where the trooping blackbuck go; / But I can hear the little fawn that bleats behind the doe. / 'Tis a league and a league to the Lena Falls where the crop and the upland meet, / But I can smell the wet dawn-wind that wakes the sprouting wheat. / Unbar the door, I may not bide, but I must out and see / If those are wolves that wait outside or my own kin to me!'

She loosed the bar, she slid the bolt, she opened the door anon, / And a grey bitch-wolf came out of the dark and fawned on the Only Son!