A glimpse and a glance and a fathomless gaze, As fleeting as sunbeam, or fleck of snow; Onward I started: he stumbled within The shadowy lengths of the evening's glow; But out of the stillness a something yet calls From the heart of that boy in the overalls. His eyes wore the clear, wistful look of the stars; Did he ask what they held in the boy-realm dim? His brown feet were bounded by boulders and bars, And this was a glimpse of the world for him. O Nature, there's nothing my vision enthralls As the picturesque boy in the overalls. The print of the mountain embranded his brow, The strength of its strongholds was there; A hint of the valley's rich regions a-plow Freed the quizzical face of its care; And O, could I creep through those crude wordless walls, Clasp hearts with the boy in the overalls! On the highways and byways such faces I see, No face, like to these, found on fame's featured walls; And the men, counted best, in the years yet to be, Shall arise from the ranks of the Overalls. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ATELIER CEZANNE by CLARENCE MAJOR THE VIKING GRAVE AT LADBY by KAREN SWENSON UPON A DYING LADY by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS A SPINSTER'S STINT by ALICE CARY GOLD-OF-OPHIR ROSES by GRACE ATHERTON DENNEN HASTE NOT! REST NOT! by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE THE FAIRIES OF THE CALDON LOW; A MIDSUMMER LEGEND by MARY HOWITT |