The Poetical Works of Jonathan E. Hoag/Happy Childhood
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Happy Childhood
See the gay schoolboy chase the butterflies,
As from the muddy pool in fright they rise;
Behold his hat of straw and naked feet,
His shiny dinner-pail and schoolbooks neat.
He o'er the fence a dandelion sees;
Through hole in wall he grasps the prize with ease.
With lip and tongue he curls the tender stalks,
And hangs them 'neath his hat-brim as he walks.
He tramps the fields and wooded hills remote
To seek for flowers where summer zephyrs float;
He trips beside the pearly meadow brooks,
Where cowslips grow in countless grassy nooks.
Oh, happy childhood! Ever may it be
That naught but silvery clouds are turned to thee:
Our paths have thorns and pitfalls not a few;
May thine, instead, hold flowers of richest hue.
Too soon thy childish footsteps turn away,
And raven locks at length are touched with gray:
But new young voices come to cheer the air,
And lull at eve the weary parents' care!
As from the muddy pool in fright they rise;
Behold his hat of straw and naked feet,
His shiny dinner-pail and schoolbooks neat.
He o'er the fence a dandelion sees;
Through hole in wall he grasps the prize with ease.
With lip and tongue he curls the tender stalks,
And hangs them 'neath his hat-brim as he walks.
He tramps the fields and wooded hills remote
To seek for flowers where summer zephyrs float;
He trips beside the pearly meadow brooks,
Where cowslips grow in countless grassy nooks.
Oh, happy childhood! Ever may it be
That naught but silvery clouds are turned to thee:
Our paths have thorns and pitfalls not a few;
May thine, instead, hold flowers of richest hue.
Too soon thy childish footsteps turn away,
And raven locks at length are touched with gray:
But new young voices come to cheer the air,
And lull at eve the weary parents' care!
1917