Childhood

David Bates 1809 (Indian Hill) – 1870



Childhood, sweet and sunny childhood,
    With its careless, thoughtless air,
Like the verdant, tangled wildwood,
    Wants the training hand of care.

See it springing all around us --
    Glad to know, and quick to learn;
Asking questions that confound us;
    Teaching lessons in its turn.

Who loves not its joyous revel,
    Leaping lightly on the lawn,
Up the knoll, along the level,
    Free and graceful as a fawn?

Let it revel; it is nature
    Giving to the little dears
Strength of limb, and healthful features,
    For the toil of coming years.

He who checks a child with terror,
    Stops its play, and stills its song,
Not alone commits an error,
    But a great and moral wrong.

Give it play, and never fear it --
    Active life is no defect;
Never, never break its spirit --
    Curb it only to direct.

Would you dam the flowing river,
    Thinking it would cease to flow?
Onward it must go forever --
    Better teach it where to go.

Childhood is a fountain welling,
    Trace its channel in the sand,
And its currents, spreading, swelling,
    Will revive the withered land.

Childhood is the vernal season;
    Trim and train the tender shoot;
Love is to the coming reason,
    As the blossom to the fruit.

Tender twigs are bent and folded --
    Art to nature beauty lends;
Childhood easily is moulded;
    Manhood breaks, but seldom bends.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

1:09 min read
139

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GCXX GHGH XIXI GJGJ KLKL MNMN XOAO
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,327
Words 231
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

David Bates

David Bates was an American poet. He was born in Indian Hill, Ohio, and educated in Buffalo, New York, before working in first Indianapolis then Philadelphia. In 1849, he published a volume of poetry, Eolian. Among his best-known works are Speak Gently, Chiding, and Childhood. more…

All David Bates poems | David Bates Books

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