The Poetry Corner

Hapless

By Walter De La Mare

Hapless, hapless, I must be All the hours of life I see, Since my foolish nurse did once Bed me on her leggen bones; Since my mother did not weel To snip my nails with blades of steel. Had they laid me on a pillow In a cot of water willow, Had they bitten finger and thumb, Not to such ill hap I had come.