This page has been validated.
THE FISHER'S BOY[1]
My life is like a stroll upon the beach,
As near the ocean's edge as I can go;
My tardy steps its waves sometimes o'erreach,
Sometimes I stay to let them overflow.
My sole employment 'tis, and scrupulous care,
To place my gains beyond the reach of tides,
Each smoother pebble, and each shell more rare,
Which Ocean kindly to my hand confides.
- ↑ The above title, prefixed to these stanzas in Emerson's selection, is scarcely suited to so personal and characteristic a poem.
14
