I hear laughter and there is a feasting, and another marriage is made A conspiracy has been formed to accouch another being. Thou child unborn that now resteth in eternal day, day that is neither light nor dark; Child that art yet uncreate and unwhipped of Pain, In laughter and in feasting they have conspired against thy blissful sleep There in the Unconscious, There where thou art lapped and laved in non-being. Hast thou heard the rumors from the lust-plane, The guilty murmurings from the priest that made two beings incorporate? Dost thou know thou art doomed to be born, to bear the cross and have the nails of pain cleave thy temples?
O thou sweet dweller in the White Temple, Baby! Baby! as yet a lustful dream in two human hearts! Already thy white robes are stained by a tiny red mark— Thou art doomed to enter the lazarhouse.
Baby! Baby! I hear thee in the night weeping and wailing ’gainst thy birth For another marriage is mad
Publication History
The Shadow-Eater [1915/17 and 1923]
1923 Edition Text Changes
- [New stanza at “Thou child unborn…”]