Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BOY'S RIGHTS, by CARRIE L. MAY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BOY'S RIGHTS, by                    
First Line: I wonder now if any one
Last Line: Wrongs will be righted then.
Subject(s): Boys; Children; Equality; Prejudice; Childhood; Bias; Intolerance


I WONDER now if any one
In this broad land has heard
In favor of downtrodden boys
One solitary word?
We hear enough of "woman's rights,"
And "rights of workingmen,"
Of "equal rights," and "nation's rights,"
But pray just tell us when
Boys' Rights were ever spoken of?
Why, we've become so used
To being snubbed by every one,
And slighted and abused,
That when one is polite to us,
We open wide our eyes,
And stretch them in astonishment
To nearly twice their size!
Boys seldom dare to ask their friends
To venture in the house;
It don't come natural at all
To creep round like a mouse.
And if we should forget ourselves
And make a little noise,
Then ma or auntie sure would say,
"Oh, my! those dreadful boys!"
The girls bang on the piano
In peace, but if the boys
Attempt a tune with fife and drum,
It's "Stop that horrid noise!"
"That horrid noise!" just think of it,
When sister never fails
To make a noise three times as bad
With everlasting "scales."
Insulted thus, we lose no time
In beating a retreat;
So off we go to romp and tear
And scamper in the street.
No wonder that so many boys
Such wicked men become;
'T were better far to let them have
Their plays and games at home.
Perhaps that text the teacher quotes
Sometimes, -- "Train up a child," --
Means only, train the little girls,
And let the boys run wild.
But patience, and the time shall come
When we will all be men,
And when it does, I rather think
Wrongs will be righted then.





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