No. I. THE COMPLAINT.
Who loves the climbing boy? Who cares
If well or ill I be?
Is there a living soul that shares
A thought or wish with me?
I've had no parents since my birth,
Brothers and sisters none,
Ah! what to me is all this earth,
Where I am only one?
I wake and see the morning shine,
And all around me gay;
But nothing I behold is mine,
No, not the light of day;—
No, not the very breath I draw;
These limbs are not my own;
A master calls me his by law,—
My griefs are mine alone:
Ah! these they could not make him feel—
Would they themselves had felt
Who bound me to that man of steel,
Whom mercy cannot melt!
Yet not for wealth or ease I sigh,
All are not rich and great;
Many may be as poor as I,
But none so desolate.
For all I know have kin and kind,
Some home, some hope, some joy;
But these I must not look to find—
Who knows the climbing boy?
The world has not a place of rest
For outcast so forlorn;
'Twas all bespoken, all possest,
Long before I was born.
Affection, too, life's sweetest cup,
Goes round from hand to hand;
But I am never ask'd to sup—
Out of the ring I stand.
If kindness beats within my heart,
What heart will beat again?
I coax the dogs, they snarl and start;
Brutes are as bad as men.
The beggar's child may rise above
The misery of his lot;
The gipsy may be loved, and love;
But I—but I must not.
Hard fare, cold lodgings, cruel toil,
Youth, health, and strength consume:
What tree could thrive in such a soil?
What flower so scathed could bloom?
Should I outgrow this crippling work,
How shall my bread be sought?
Must I to other lads turn Turk,
And teach what I am taught?
O, might I roam with flocks and herds
In fellowship along!
O, were I one among the birds,
All wing, and life, and song!
Free with the fishes might I dwell
Down in the quiet sea!
The snail in his cob-castle shell—
The snail's a king to me!
For out he glides in April showers,
Lies snug when storms prevail;
He feeds on fruit, he sleeps on flowers—
I wish I was a snail!—
No, never! do the worst they can,
I may be happy still;
For I was born to be a man,
And if I live I will!
