Poem 471

This is the shortest song from The Nightdress … small but perfectly formed… it’s sung by a quartet of dead babies … after successfully giving birth to three children Constance’s mother Mrs Kent had four in a row who all died shortly after being born (the stock phrase ‘failed to thrive’ would go on their death certificates) … Constance was the next baby and managed to survive only because her care was entrusted to a nurse Mary Pratt who went on to become mistress of the house and the mother of Saville who would be so savagely murdered by his half-sister … here Constance’s mother is in labour with her and thinks she sees her four previous dead babies around the bed … their fate was to live a hundred hours or so while Constance’s was to live a century … in the greater scheme of things, the song suggests, what’s the actual difference? …

( I like the rhyme scheme, especially the internal rhyme of Kents/went and hours/years … )

Failed To Thrive

Failed to thrive failed to thrive
I’m sorry I couldn’t stay alive
poor little Kents we came and we went
the hill was too steep for the climbing

Failure to thrive failure to thrive
a message to you lucky bastards alive
everyone finally fails to thrive
a hundred hours or a hundred years
it’s only a matter of timing