Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LITTLE CHILDREN, by FRANCES SARGENT OSGOOD Poet's Biography First Line: And yet we check and chide Last Line: Thank god! To such his smile is not demed. Alternate Author Name(s): Vane, Violet Subject(s): Children; Childhood | ||||||||
AND yet we check and chide The airy angles as they float about us, With rules of so-call'd wisdom, till they grow The same tame slaves to custom and the world. And day by day the fresh frank soul that look'd Out of those wistful eyes, and smiling play'd With the wild roses of that changing cheek, And modulated all those earnest tones, And danced in those light foot-falls to a tune Heart-heard by them, inaudible to us, Folds closer its pure wings, whereon the hues They caught in heaven already pale and pine, And shrinks amazed and scared back from our gaze And so the evil grows. The graceful flower May have its own sweet way in bud and bloom; May drink, and dare with upturn'd gaze, the light, Or nestle 'neath the guardian leaf, or wave Its fragrant bells to ever-roving breeze, Or wreathe with blushing grace the fragile spray In bashful loveliness. The wild wood-bird May plume at will his wings, and soar or sing. The mountain brook may wind where'er it would, Dash in wild music down the deep ravine, Or, rippling drowsily in forest haunts, Dream of the floating cloud, the waving flower, And murmur to itself sweet lulling words In broken tones so like the faltering speech Of early childhood; but our human flowers, Our soul-birds, caged and pining, they must sing And grow not as their own but our caprice Suggests, and so the blossom and the lay Are but half bloom and music at the best. And if by chance some brave and buoyant soul, More bold or less forgetful of the lessons God taught them first, disdain the rule -- the bar -- And, wildly beautiful, rebellious rise, -- How the hard world, half startled from itself, Frowns the bright wanderer down, or turns away, Or leaves her lonely in her upward path. Thank God! to such HIS smile is not demed. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE THE POET AT SEVEN by DONALD JUSTICE A FLIGHT OF FANCY by FRANCES SARGENT OSGOOD |
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