The Salt of the Earth

If childhood were not in the world, But only men and women grown; No baby-locks in tendrils curled, No baby-blossoms blown; Though men were stronger, women fairer, And nearer all delights in reach, And verse and music uttered rarer Tones of more godlike speech; Though the utmost life of life’s best hours Found, as it cannot now find, words; Though desert sands were sweet as flowers And flowers could sing like birds, But children never heard them, never They felt a child’s foot leap and run: This were a drearier star than ever Yet looked upon the sun.