POETRY: A Magazine of Verse
ALL LIFE IN A LIFE
His father had a large family
Of girls and boys, and he was born and bred
In a barn or kind of cattle shed.
But be was a hardy youngster, and grew to be
A boy with eyes that sparkled like a rod
Of white-hut iron in the blacksmith shop.
His face was ruddy like a rising moon,
And his hair was black as sheeps wool that is black,
And he had rugged arms and legs and a strong back,
And he had a voice half flute and half bassoon,
And from his toes up to his head's top
He was a man, simple but intricate;
And most men differ who try to delineate
His life and fate.
He never seemed ashamed
Of poverty or of his origin. He was a wayward child
Nevertheless, though wise and mild
And thoughtful; but when angered then he flamed
As fire does in a forge.
When he was ten years old he ran away
To be alone and watch the sea and the stars
At midnight from a mountain gorge.
When he returned his parents scolded him
And threatened him with bolts and bars.
Then they grew soft for his return, and gay,
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