 | Sonnets and Other Poems Chiefly Religious |  |
20
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS.
In childhood, when the days and years seemed long,And life a wonderland, I thought that men
Were men indeed. But I have lived since then;
And being now a man among the throng
Of other men, I see that I was wrong.
I find that we are truly children yet;
And hours of sickness or of deep regret;
Mornings of summer, with the skylark's song;
And tales like these—wild wondrous tales of yore,
Which to the child's play of the world belong—
Can bring to grave and care-worn men once more
The thoughts of childhood, with conviction strong
That even though manliness be folded o'er
Our bosoms, we are children at the core.
| Sonnets and Other Poems Chiefly Religious | |