Remembering the Children of First Marriages

Oh remember the children of first marriages

For they are silent and awkward in their comings and their goings;

For the seal of the misbegotten is upon them;

For they walk in apology and dis-ease;

For their star is sunk;

For their fathers’ brows are knitted against them;

For they bristle and snarl.

All you light-limbed amblers in the sun,

Remember the grovellers in the dark,

The scene-shifters, the biders, the loners.