Come Away O Human Child! Poem by Dónall Dempsey

Little daughter
even before you were

(conceived by me)

I dreamed of your head
on a pillow

dreaming your own dreams.

I staggered from day to day
drunk with amazement
amazed with astonishment

that you were
going to be

counting days
eagerly

until you were.

Now, that we have
lost you

slipping unbelievably
somehow between

our dreams
and your dreams

(Heaven lost in the dark)

I think of you
as you were going to be

your head dreaming
on a pillow

my head at rest beside your head.

Little daughter
who never was

Oh how I miss you!