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9.
1There was a child went forth every day,
And the first object he looked upon and received
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.
2.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 Third Month 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.
3.The field-sprouts of Fourth Month and Fifth Month
became part of him,
Winter-grain sprouts, and those of the light-yellow
corn, and the esculent roots of the garden,
And the apple-trees covered with blossoms, and the
fruit afterward, and wood-berries, and the
commonest weeds by the road;
19*