"Where have I come from, where did you pick me up?" the baby asked br its mother. br She answered, half crying, half laughing, and clasping the br baby to her breast- br "You were hidden in my heart as its desire, my darling. br You were in the dolls of my childhood's games; and when with br clay I made the image of my god every morning, I made the unmade br you then. br You were enshrined with our household deity, in his worship br I worshipped you. br In all my hopes and my loves, in my life, in the life of my br mother you have lived. br In the lap of the deathless Spirit who rules our home you have br been nursed for ages. br When in girlhood my heart was opening its petals, you hovered br as a fragrance about it. br Your tender softness bloomed in my youthful limbs, like a glow br in the sky before the sunrise. br Heaven's first darling, twain-born with the morning light, you br have floated down the stream of the world's life, and at last you br have stranded on my heart. br As I gaze on your face, mystery overwhelms me; you who belong br to all have become mine. br For fear of losing you I hold you tight to my breast.