Page 22

By Jack Joseph Smith

The Infant Coming out of the wildest wind Clearly Nabraska would be a child The sun shone, disappeared, than landed on our ground All on the day you were born, this earth was shattered more servervily, than anything it had ever seen In shadow or sorrow, in steel and strength, you became my intelligance, you became my test Every day I sat you down in the middle of a yard, that was a medow, and asked you in the evening, to be the sweet dream of your mother This was not a dumb mistake within a dream, you were done on purpose With work, with war without metaphor, you, were the grinding through hell for absolution Your quietness and strength as an infant, told me that how far I was away from domestic life, I would stay, like a chiefton knowing his tribe, would be lost, for you, I would stay There is no glory at the end of a tongue, and I know I talk to much But I wrapped you with what wisdom I had, and never has there been a single instant of sadness, while I guess the hardest part for both of us, is that I love you still

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The speaker addresses a child as his intelligance and test, recalls the infant's quiet strength, and says he would stay for that child.

The page addresses a child as catastrophe, test, wisdom, and reason to remain. The speaker says he would stay for the child despite his distance from domestic life, and he ends by admitting that he still loves the addressee.

Claude

'The Infant' addresses a child born 'Coming out of the wildest wind', when 'this earth was shattered more servervily, / than anything it had ever seen'. The speaker calls the child 'my intelligance' and 'my test', recalls sitting the child down in 'a yard, / that was a medow', says 'you were done on purpose', and ends 'the hardest part for both of us, / is that I love you still'.

The poem is a direct address from parent to child, mixing large, violent images of birth with small domestic ones. It admits distance from 'domestic life' and a habit of talking 'to much', and still stays firm on staying and on love. The long, comma-linked lines read like speech, and the typed spellings are kept.