Refusal to Mourn - Poem

A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of A Child in London
                                                            Dylan Thomas, 1946

Never until the mankind making
Bird beast and flower
Fathering and humbling darkness
Tells with silence the last light breaking
And the still hour
Is come of the sea tumbling in harness

And I must enter again the round
Zion of the water bead
And the synagogue of the ear of corn
Shall I let pray the shadow of a sound
Or sow my salt seed
Into the least valley of sackcloth to mourn

The majesty and burning of the child's death.
I shall not murder
The mankind of her going with a grave truth
Nor blaspheme down the stations of the breath
With any further
Elegy of innocence and youth.

Deep with the first dead lies London's daughter,
Robed with the long friends,
The grains beyond age,

the dark veins of her mother,
Secret by the unmourning water
Of the riding Thames.
After the first death, there is no other.

Refusal to Mourn - Grid

Never u____ t__ m______ m_____
Bird b____ a__ f_____
Fathering a__ a__ h_______ d_______
Tells w___ s______ t__ l___ l____ b_______
And t__ s____ h___
Is c___ o_ t__ s__ t_______ i_ h______.

And I m___ e____ a____ t__ r____
Zion o_ t__ w____ b___
And t__ s________ o_ t__ e__ o_ c___.
Shall I l__ p___ t__ s_____ o_ a s____
Or s__ m_ s___ s___
Into t__ l____ v_____ o_ s________ t_ m____

The m______ a__ b______ o_ t__ c______ d_____.
I s____ n__ m_____
The m______ o_ h__ g____ w___ a g____ t____
Nor b________ d___ t__ s_______ o_ t__ b_____
With a__ f______
Elegy o_ i________ a__ y____.

Deep w___ t__ f____ d___ l___ L_______ d_______,
Robed i_ t__ l___ f______,
The g_____ b_____ a__,

the d___ v____ o_ h__ m_____,
Secret b_ t__ u_________ w____
Of t__ r_____ T_____.
After t__ f____ d_____ t____ i_ n_ o____.

Refusal to mourn - Reading