Serious infant worth a fear:
In thy unfaultering visage well
Picturing forth the son of Tell,
When on his forehead, firm and good,
Motionless mark, the apple stood;
Guileless traitor, rebel mild,
Convict unconscious, culprit-child!
Gates that close with iron roar
Have been to thee thy nursery door;
Chains that chink in cheerless cells
Have been thy rattles and thy bells;
Walls contrived for giant sin
Have hemmed thy faultless weakness in;
Near thy sinless bed black Guilt
Her discordant house hath built,
And filled it with her monstrous brood-
Sights, by thee not understood-
Sights of fear, and of distress,
That pass a harmless infant’s guess!
But the clouds, that overcast
Thy young morning, may not last.
Soon shall arrive the rescuing hour,
That yields thee up to Nature’s power.
Nature, that so late doth greet thee,
Shall in o’er-flowing measure meet thee.
She shall recompense with cost
For every lesson thou hast lost.
Then wandering up thy sire’s lov’d hill,
Thou shalt take thy airy fill
Of health and pastime. Birds shall sing
For thy delight each May morning.
‘Mid new-yean’d lambkins thou shalt play,
Hardly less a lamb than they.
Then thy prison’s lengthened bound
Shall be the horizon skirting round.
And, while thou fill’st thy lap with flowers,
To make amends for wintery hours,
The breeze, the sunshine, and the place,
Shall from thy tender brow efface
Each vestige of untimely care,
That sour restraint had graven there;
And on thy every look impress
A more excelling childishness.
So shall be thy days beguil’d,
Thornton Hunt, my favourite child.
came to me, and asked,
‘sir, what is revolution? ‘
i thought about it for a moment,
and sitting him on my knee, replied,
‘you know when you’re outside,
running and playing in the sun,
and you get too hot…
and you go down to the creek
and get a drink of water?
and you stand there enjoying
the shade of the trees,
and the coolness of the wind? ‘
he nodded his head.
‘well, revolution is making sure
that the sunlight, the grasses,
the creek and it’s water,
the trees that give shade,
and the wind a blowing…
will always be there,
for you and for your children! ‘
‘and that children everywhere
will be born into a world that’s safe,
that they have a home to go to,
and food to eat.
and that your momma and daddy
can sleep at night without worrying! ‘
the little boys shook his head up and down…
‘that’s cool… does god do that,
or do we? ‘
‘out of the mouth of babes! …’
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Slips from his Nurse, and rejoicing
Loses himself in the Fair.
Thro’ the jostle and din
Wandering, he revels,
Dreaming, desiring, possessing;
Till, of a sudden
Tired and afraid, he beholds
The sordid assemblage
Just as it is; and he runs
With a sob to his Nurse
(Lighting at last on him),
And in her motherly bosom
Cries him to sleep.
Thus thro’ the World,
Seeing and feeling and knowing,
Goes Man: till at last,
Tired of experience, he turns
To the friendly and comforting breast
Of the old nurse, Death.