A Newborn Infant [poem by Agnes L. Storrie]

[Editor: This poem by Agnes L. Storrie was published in Poems, 1909.]

A Newborn Infant.

Hush! draw thy breath slowly,
This moment is holy,
Touched with a splendour beyond human ken;
For through this small portal
A spirit immortal
Pure and untainted descends among men.

Oh! sweet incarnation!
Oh! flower of creation!
Oh innocent flame of new life undefiled,
On earth’s poor breast falling
Her lost youth recalling
Oh! hope of humanity, soul of a child.

This lamp freshly lighted
By some power ignited,
This spark from some luminant out of our sight,
Hath surely some message,
Some hint or some presage
To flash on the gloom of our ignorant night.

Oh! spirit arrested
In flesh manifested
Not vainly thou comest from far as a sign.
Though doubt may decry it
And Science deny it,
We know that we see in thee something divine.

Source:
Agnes L. Storrie. Poems, J. W. Kettlewell, Sydney, 1909, pages 227-228