Christmas, 1939

Patrick Kavanagh: Collected Poems edited by Antoinette Quinn (Allen Lane)

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.

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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.