OPEN your gates for him Eager and new! All the world waits for him; What will he do? Dear incompletenesses Blossoming hours! Feed him with sweetnesses! Heap him with flowers! See how he crumbles them, Shouts like a man! Tosses and tumbles them Wide as he can! Vain is admonishment, Sermons in vain;— Gleeful astonishment! At it again! Wildness of babyhood! Passion of play! Who but a gaby would Wish it away? Rapt from the Mystery, Reft from the whole, Hast thou a history, Innocent soul! Gaze we with wondering, Baby, on thee;— Sped o'er what sundering Strait of the sea? Borne to us hitherward, Ah! from what shore? Voyaging whitherward, Child, evermore? Little he'll tell for us! Nothing he knows! Clear like a bell for us Laughs as he goes! Powers supersensible Breathe thro' the boy Incomprehensible Promise of joy! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FLUSH OR FAUNUS by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING AT CASTERBRIDGE FAIR: 3. AFTER THE CLUB-DANCE by THOMAS HARDY ECHO AND THE FERRY by JEAN INGELOW THE MOCKING-BIRD by FRANK LEBBY STANTON TAKE HER, BREAK HER by ANACREON THE GODODDIN: CARADOC by ANEIRIN |