A Son Was Born To A Poor Peasant

Fyodor Sologub 1863 (Saint Petersburg) – 1927 (Saint Petersburg)



A son was born to a poor peasant.
A foul old woman stepped inside
The hut, with trembling bony fingers
Clawing her tangled locks aside.

And when the midwife wasn't looking,
Across towards that babe she reached.
And with her gnarled, misshapen fingers
His cheek she very lightly touched.

Mumbling weird words and slowly tapping
Her crooked stick, she went away.
Nobody knew what charm she'd woven,
And so the years went duly by -

The secret spell came to fulfilment:
In life, much sorrow came to him
But happiness, and joy, and true love
Fled the dark sign upon the skin.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
55

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCB DXCX DXXX AXXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 574
Words 104
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Fyodor Sologub

Fyodor Sologub was a Russian Symbolist poet, novelist, playwright and essayist. more…

All Fyodor Sologub poems | Fyodor Sologub Books

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