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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE CHILD, by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY Poet's Biography
First Line: It was only the clinging touch
Last Line: It hath made the whole day sweet.
Subject(s): Children; Good Samaritan; Touch (sense); Childhood
First Line: It was only the clinging touch
Last Line: It hath made the whole day sweet.
Subject(s): Children; Good Samaritan; Touch (sense); Childhood
IT WAS only the clinging touch
Of a child's hand in the street,
But it made the whole day sweet;
Caught, as he ran full-speed,
In my own stretched out to his need,
Caught, and saved from the fall,
As I held, for the moment's poise,
In my circling arms the whole boy's
Delicate slightness, warmèd mould;
Mine, for an instant mine,
The sweetest thing the heart can divine,
More precious than fame or gold,
The crown of many joys,
Lay in my breast, all mine.
I was nothing to him;
He neither looked up nor spoke;
I never saw his eyes;
He was gone ere my mind awoke
From the action's quick surprise
With vision blurred and dim.
You say I ask too much:
It was only the clinging touch
Of a child in a city street;
It hath made the whole day sweet.
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COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL
THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL
A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL
CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS
ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE
THE POET AT SEVEN by DONALD JUSTICE
AT GIBRALTAR by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY