Song of the Orphan
Song of the Orphan - meaning Summary
Smallness and Lost Love
The poem speaks in the voice of an isolated child who believes they are destined to remain insignificant and unloved. Addressing parents, the speaker pleads for pity while predicting neglect, premature death, and uselessness. Simple possessions—a single faded dress and wispy hair—become symbols of survival and a past intimacy now vanished. The closing image suggests that someone who once loved the child no longer has anything to love, deepening the sense of abandonment.
Read Complete AnalysesI am no one and never will be anyone, for I am far too small to claim to be; not even later. Mothers and Fathers, take pity on me. I fear it will not pay to raise me: I shall fall victim to the mower's scythe. No one can find me useful now: I am too young, and tomorrow will be too late. I only have one dress, worn thin and faded, but it will last an eternity even before God, perhaps. I only have this whispy hair (that always remained the same) yet once was someone's dearest love. Now he has nothing that he loves.
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