Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A BOY'S NEED by HERBERT CLARK JOHNSON

First Line: A BOY SHOULD HAVE AN OPEN FIREPLACE
Last Line: AND DREAM OF BEING MEN -- AND BOYS SHOULD DREAM.
Subject(s): YOUTH;

A boy should have an open fireplace
To sit beside, a place to warm his feet
And have the peace of firelight on his face.

A boy should know the songs that wood worms sing
In burning logs in wintertime, as well
As those of robins on the boughs in spring.

Aside from these, a hearth, like a meadow's stream,
Has a strange old way of making boys sit down
And dream of being men -- and boys should dream.



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