God Gave to Me A Child in Part

16 lines

Robert Louis Stevenson·1850–1894·Lyric·Victorian

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Summary Meaning

Stevenson's poem meditates on the conditional and partial nature of parental love, framing the child as a divine yet incomplete gift that demands acceptance of its inherent impermanence. The central metaphor of 'a child in part' evokes a philosophical tension between gratitude for a transient blessing and the melancholic awareness of its fundamental absence. Symbolically, the child represents the paradoxical human experience of treasuring what cannot be fully possessed, resonating with existentialist notions of being and non-being. The literary tone is quietly elegiac, blending tender devotion with a resigned, almost stoic acknowledgment of life's fleeting assignations. Ultimately, the poem subverts conventional paeans to parental joy, instead offering a nuanced reflection on love's capacity to thrive within the boundaries of loss.

OD gave to me a child in part,

Yet wholly gave the father's heart:

Child of my soul, O whither now,

Unborn, unmothered, goest thou?

You came, you went, and no man wist;

Hapless, my child, no breast you kist;

On no dear knees, a privileged babbler, clomb,

Nor knew the kindly feel of home.

My voice may reach you, O my dear-

A father's voice perhaps the child may hear;

And, pitying, you may turn your view

On that poor father whom you never knew.

Alas! alone he sits, who then,

Immortal among mortal men,

Sat hand in hand with love, and all day through

With your dear mother wondered over you.

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