Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


NATURE AND HER CHILD by EDWARD ROWLAND SILL

First Line: AS SOME POOR CHILD WHOSE SOUL IS WINDOWLESS
Last Line: THE WORLD-HEART YEARNS, BUT WE STAND DULL AND DAZED.

AS some poor child whose soul is windowless,
Having not hearing, speech, nor sight, sits lone
In her dark, silent life, till cometh one
With a most patient heart, who tries to guess

Some hidden way to help her helplessness,
And, yearning for that spirit shut in stone,
A crystal that has never seen the sun,
Smooths now the hair, and now the hand will press,

Or gives a key to touch, then letters raised,
Its symbol; then an apple, or a ring,
And again letters, so, all blind and dumb,
We wait; the kindly smiles of summer come,
And soft winds touch our cheek, and thrushes sing;
The world-heart yearns, but we stand dull and dazed.



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