ALOLL in the warm clear water, <br />On her back with languorous limbs, <br />She lies. The baby upon her breasts <br />Paddles and falls and swims. <br />With half-closed eyes she smiles, <br />Guarding it with her hands; <br />And the sob swells up in my heart — <br />In my heart that understands. <br />Dear, in the English country, <br />The hatefullest land on earth, <br />The mothers are starved and the children die, <br />And death is better than birth!<br /><br />Francis William Lauderdale Adams<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-south-sea-islander/
