Hi,
Alex—
Thanks for your encouragement and thoughtful critiques.
Julie’s suggestion to use the 7-5-7-5 syllable stanza form was excellent advice.
In S11, I justify the “you wait” because “
morirás” is in the future tense, so the N is addressing the child who is literally waiting to die at dawn.
I found the following article that may shed some light on the specific medical issues that led to the death of “Raymundín,” Unamuno’s hydrocephalic son. The poem referred to as “Lullaby for a Sick Child” is this poem. A couple of stanzas are quoted in the article. It seems that the hydrocephaly was either congenital or caused by meningitis contracted in the first few weeks of life. Raymundín never acquired language and had profound intellectual disability. He was able to crawl up his father’s leg to be kissed, according to Unamuno’s diary. The author of this article makes the case that Raymundín’s disability and death were the main reasons for Unamuno’s complicated faith and his difficulties with the Catholic Church.
https://nah.sen.es/vmfiles/abstract/...1853_60_EN.pdf
Glenn