Through childhood's years he struggled bitterly, To understand the bars that shut him out Of paradise—when roistering schoolboys Made nature ring with mad halloo and shout. If he won grades, they jeered at him and yelled In impish glee; he must be kept in hand— Like other packs, deriding what they fear, And hating what they do not understand. Thus, alien, groping blindlly for a goal, He plodded slowly upward in his climb; The drag of old-world customs in his home, But in the new, a flaming faith, sublime. .... Then ... after years of suffering and doubt And drudgery, he scaled a mountain crest— With vision clear, but pain-constricted soul Because of loneliness, his constant guest. ... His former playmates look with envious eyes On his success ... Their smiles are cryptic—grim; They know he has outrun their swiftest dart; And now, they brag they went to school with him! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE COMING OF WISDOM WITH TIME by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THE ELF AND THE DORMOUSE by OLIVER BROOK HERFORD OLD POETS by ALFRED JOYCE KILMER THE CHILD IN THE GARDEN by HENRY VAN DYKE BY THE SALPETRIERE by THOMAS ASHE |