Patrick Kavanagh: Collected Poems edited by Antoinette Quinn (Allen Lane). Reprinted by kind permission of the Trustees of the Estate of the late Katherine B. Kavanagh.
O Divine Baby in the cradle,
All that is poet in me
Is the dream I dreamed
of Your Childhood
And the dream You
dreamed of me.
O Divine Baby in the cradle,
All that is truth in me
Is my mind tuned to the cadence
Of a child's philosophy.
O Divine Baby in the cradle,
All that is pride in me
Is my mind bowed in homage
Upon Your Mother's knee.
O Divine Baby in the cradle,
All that is joy in me
Is that I have saved from the ruin
Of my soul Your Infancy.
