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25 — Poem of The Child That Went Forth, and Always Goes Forth, Forever and Forever
THERE was a child went forth every day,
And the first object he looked upon and re- ceived with wonder, pity, love, or dread, that object he became,
And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part of the day, or for many years, or stretching cycles of years.
And the first object he looked upon and re- ceived with wonder, pity, love, or dread, that object he became,
And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part of the day, or for many years, or stretching cycles of years.
The early lilacs became part of this child,
And grass, and white and red morning-glories, and white and red clover, and the song of the phœbe-bird,
And the March-born lambs, and the sow's pink- faint litter, and the mare's foal, and the cow's calf, and the noisy brood of the barn-yard or by the mire of the pond-side, and the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there, and the beautiful curious liquid, and the water-plants with their graceful flat heads — all became part of him.
And grass, and white and red morning-glories, and white and red clover, and the song of the phœbe-bird,
And the March-born lambs, and the sow's pink- faint litter, and the mare's foal, and the cow's calf, and the noisy brood of the barn-yard or by the mire of the pond-side, and the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there, and the beautiful curious liquid, and the water-plants with their graceful flat heads — all became part of him.
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And the apple-trees covered with blossoms, and the fruit afterward, and wood-berries, and the commonest weeds by the road,
And the old drunkard staggering home from the out-house of the tavern whence he had lately risen,
And the school-mistress that passed on her way to the school, and the friendly boys that passed, and the quarrelsome boys, and the tidy and fresh-cheeked girls, and the bare-foot negro boy and girl,
And all the changes of city and country, wherever he went.
His own parents — he that had propelled the
father-stuff at night and fathered him, and
she that conceived him in her womb and
birthed him — they gave this child more of
themselves than that,
They gave him afterward every day — they and of them became part of him.
They gave him afterward every day — they and of them became part of him.
The mother at home, quietly placing the dishes on
the supper-table,
The mother with mild words, clean her cap and
gown, a wholesome odor falling off her per- son and clothes as she walks by,
The father, strong, self-sufficient, manly, mean, angered, unjust,
The blow, the quick loud word, the tight bargain, the crafty lure,
The family usages, the language, the company, the furniture — the yearning and swelling heart,
Affection that will not be gainsayed — the sense of what is real — the thought if, after all, it should prove unreal,
The doubts of day-time and the doubts of night- time, the curious whether and how,
Whether that which appears so is so, or is it all flashes and specks?
Men and women crowding fast in the streets — if they are not flashes and specks what are they?
The streets themselves, and the facades of houses, the goods in the windows,
Vehicles, teams, the tiered wharves, the huge crossing at the ferries,
The village on the highland seen from afar at sun- set, the river between,
Shadows, aureola and mist, light falling on roofs and gables of white or brown, three miles off,
The schooner near-by sleepily dropping down the tide, the little boat slack-towed astern,
The hurrying tumbling waves, quick-broken crests,
slapping,
The strata of colored clouds, the long bar of ma- roon-tint away solitary by itself, the spread of purity it lies motionless in,
The horizon's edge, the flying sea-crow, the fra- grance of salt-marsh and shore-mud;
These became part of that child who went forth every day, who now goes, and will always go forth every day,
And these become of him or her that peruses them now.
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The father, strong, self-sufficient, manly, mean, angered, unjust,
The blow, the quick loud word, the tight bargain, the crafty lure,
The family usages, the language, the company, the furniture — the yearning and swelling heart,
Affection that will not be gainsayed — the sense of what is real — the thought if, after all, it should prove unreal,
The doubts of day-time and the doubts of night- time, the curious whether and how,
Whether that which appears so is so, or is it all flashes and specks?
Men and women crowding fast in the streets — if they are not flashes and specks what are they?
The streets themselves, and the facades of houses, the goods in the windows,
Vehicles, teams, the tiered wharves, the huge crossing at the ferries,
The village on the highland seen from afar at sun- set, the river between,
Shadows, aureola and mist, light falling on roofs and gables of white or brown, three miles off,
The schooner near-by sleepily dropping down the tide, the little boat slack-towed astern,
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The strata of colored clouds, the long bar of ma- roon-tint away solitary by itself, the spread of purity it lies motionless in,
The horizon's edge, the flying sea-crow, the fra- grance of salt-marsh and shore-mud;
These became part of that child who went forth every day, who now goes, and will always go forth every day,
And these become of him or her that peruses them now.
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