The Newborn Child by Michael Rosen

This is the newborn child. This is the child just come into the world. Was it born in a hotel suite? Was it born on to the ground and left there As its parents ran from guns and bombs?

What shall we do with the newborn child? What shall we make it? A boy or a girl?

Shall the child live in the city with the sound of trains, trams, buses and cars? Shall the child live in the country with the sound of tractors, dogs and chainsaws? Shall the child live up a mountain? Or on a beach? Shall the child live in a house, an apartment, a tent or a hut?

Shall the child live with a mother who hasn’t eaten for three months? Shall the child live where there is a bath on every floor? Shall the child drink dirty water every day? Shall the child live?

You choose. This is the newborn child. What kind of child is this child?