Ambition, and Other Poems/A Child's Fancy
A Child's Fancy
His chin went up and down, and chewed at nothing,
His back was bent—the man was old and tired;
Toothless and frail, he hobbled on his way,
Admiring nothing, and by none admired:
Unless it was that child, with eager eyes,
Who stared amazed to see so strange a man,
And hobbled home himself, with shoulders raised,
Trying to make his chin go up and down;
Unless it was that much-affected child,
With rounded shoulders, like the old man seen—
Who asked his mother why he was not made
The wonderful strange sight he might have been.
His back was bent—the man was old and tired;
Toothless and frail, he hobbled on his way,
Admiring nothing, and by none admired:
Unless it was that child, with eager eyes,
Who stared amazed to see so strange a man,
And hobbled home himself, with shoulders raised,
Trying to make his chin go up and down;
Unless it was that much-affected child,
With rounded shoulders, like the old man seen—
Who asked his mother why he was not made
The wonderful strange sight he might have been.