Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BABYHOOD, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Heigh-ho! Babyhood! Tell me where you linger Last Line: Back to the lotus-lands of the far-away! Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F. Subject(s): Babies; Infants | ||||||||
Heigh-ho! Babyhood! Tell me where you linger! Let's toddle home again, for we have gone astray; Take this eager hand of mine and lead me by the finger Back to the lotus-lands of the far-away! Turn back the leaves of life. -- Don't read the story. -- Let's find the pictures, and fancy all the rest; We can fill the written pages with a brighter glory Than old Time, the story-teller, at his very best. Turn to the brook where the honeysuckle tipping O'er its vase of perfume spills it on the breeze, And the bee and humming-bird in ecstacy are sipping From the fairy flagons of the blooming locust-trees. Turn to the lane where we used to "teeter-totter," Printing little foot-palms in the mellow mold -- Laughing at the lazy cattle wading in the water Where the ripples dimple round the buttercups of gold; Where the dusky turtle lies basking on the gravel Of the sunny sand-bar in the middle tide, And the ghostly dragon-fly pauses in his travel To rest like a blossom where the water-lily died. Heigh-ho! Babyhood! Tell me where you linger! Let's toddle home again, for we have gone astray; Take this eager hand of mine and lead me by the finger Back to the lotus-lands of the far-away! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A POET TO HIS BABY SON by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON BABYHOOD by ELIZABETH AKERS ALLEN INFANCY by EDMUND JOHN ARMSTRONG BALLAD OF THE LAYETTE by WAYNE KOESTENBAUM A TOAST FOR LITTLE IRON MIKE by PAUL MARIANI THE PAMPERING OF LEORA by THYLIAS MOSS ONE FOR ALL NEWBORNS by THYLIAS MOSS IN THE THRIVING SEASON by LISEL MUELLER A BOY'S MOTHER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY |
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