Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE COUNTRY CHILD, by KATHARINE TYNAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE COUNTRY CHILD, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The country child has fragrances
Last Line: And in his cheeks old roses blow.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hinkson, Katharine Tynan
Subject(s): Children; Country Life; Innocence; Memory; Mothers; Childhood


THE Country Child has fragrances
He breathes about him as he goes;
Clear eyes that look at distances,
And in his cheek the wilding rose.

The sun, the sun himself will stain
The country face to its own red,
The red-gold of the ripening grain,
And bleach to white the curly head.

He rises to the morning lark,
Sleeps with the evening primroses,
Before the curtain of the dark
Lets down its splendour, starred with bees.

He sleeps so sweet without a dream
Under brown cottage eaves and deep,
His window holds one stray moonbeam
As though an angel kept his sleep.

He feeds on honest country fare,
Drinks the clear water of the spring;
Green carpets wait him everywhere,
Where he may run, where he may sing.

He hath his country lore by heart,
And what is friend and what is foe;
Hath conned Dame Nature's book apart—
Her child since he began to grow.

When he is old, when he goes sad,
Hobbling upon a twisted knee,
He keeps somewhat of joys he had,
Since an old countryman is he.

He keeps his childhood's innocencies,
Though his old head be bleached to snow.
Forget-me-nots still hold his eyes,
And in his cheeks old roses blow.





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