Childhood, sweet and sunny childhood, <br /> With its careless, thoughtless air, <br />Like the verdant, tangled wildwood, <br /> Wants the training hand of care. <br /> <br />See it springing all around us -- <br /> Glad to know, and quick to learn; <br />Asking questions that confound us; <br /> Teaching lessons in its turn. <br /> <br />Who loves not its joyous revel, <br /> Leaping lightly on the lawn, <br />Up the knoll, along the level, <br /> Free and graceful as a fawn? <br /> <br />Let it revel; it is nature <br /> Giving to the little dears <br />Strength of limb, and healthful features, <br /> For the toil of coming years. <br /> <br />He who checks a child with terror, <br /> Stops its play, and stills its song, <br />Not alone commits an error, <br /> But a great and moral wrong. <br /> <br />Give it play, and never fear it -- <br /> Active life is no defect; <br />Never, never break its spirit -- <br /> Curb it only to direct. <br /> <br />Would you dam the flowing river, <br /> Thinking it would cease to flow? <br />Onward it must go forever -- <br /> Better teach it where to go. <br /> <br />Childhood is a fountain welling, <br /> Trace its channel in the sand, <br />And its currents, spreading, swelling, <br /> Will revive the withered land. <br /> <br />Childhood is the vernal season; <br /> Trim and train the tender shoot; <br />Love is to the coming reason, <br /> As the blossom to the fruit. <br /> <br />Tender twigs are bent and folded -- <br /> Art to nature beauty lends; <br />Childhood easily is moulded; <br /> Manhood breaks, but seldom bends.<br /><br />David Bates<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/childhood/
