| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | The Only Child | | By Beatrice Ravenel |
| | From “Tidewater”
YOU are not one child only, | |
| Little one, daughter my dear— | |
| Hundreds of shadowy children | |
| Follow you everywhere. | |
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| Babies in twilighted corners | 5 |
| Play with your outgrown things; | |
| They whisper forgotten stories, | |
| They dance in gossamer rings. | |
| |
| Hundreds of outgrown children | |
| Look from your candid eyes; | 10 |
| Butterfly, ceaselessly living | |
| In a swarming of butterflies. | |
| |
| You race through the garden doorway, | |
| And swift, like a silvery band, | |
| The cobweb of children is after you … | 15 |
| But the last one holds my hand. | | | | |
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