Friend of the boys! Though Time has many a crown For your benignant head, -- among the rest The poet's and the novelist's renown, -- This is the chief, the happiest and best. Yes, and for you the proudest; for you know, When other souls by specious lures are caught, The hearts of boys are candid as the snow, Untricked, unterrified, unbent, unbought. Who writes for boys must see the things that are, And write the things he sees with buoyant truth; Ever his soul must know the morning star, The glad, good secret of eternal youth. "Write him as one that loves his fellow men," -- What higher praise the tongue of man employs? Ah, this, with softer voice, with mellower pen: Write him as one that loves his fellow boys! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A JOYFUL SONG OF FIVE by KATHERINE MANSFIELD THE CHINESE LAUNDRYMAN by KAREN SWENSON HOW CYRUS LAID THE CABLE [JULY 29, 1866] by JOHN GODFREY SAXE TO AN INDEPENDENT PREACHER by MATTHEW ARNOLD FRAGMENTS INTENDED FOR DEATH'S JEST-BOOK: SAD AND CHEERFUL SONGS by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES THE PHOENIX by ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER BENSON |