| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | The Adventurer | | By Wilton Agnew Barrett |
| | I WHAT is he struggling to say, | |
| With his red, wrinkled face | |
| And clawing hands? | |
| He has just come out of the darkness, | |
| Its silence is still upon him, | 5 |
| And already he wants to talk about life! | |
| |
| Hush!— | |
| Perhaps he has some great secret of birth and death, | |
| Learned back there in the black womb, | |
| Which he feels life stealing; | 10 |
| And he wants to tell it to us | |
| And cannot. | |
| |
| He is more terrible than funny. | |
| |
II Gallop, gallop on my knee— | |
| What a tireless rider! | 15 |
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| I didn’t think of your doing this | |
| When, in the stillness of night, | |
| We set you stirring. | |
| |
| Now I suppose you must keep on! | |
| |
| If you follow your daddy | 20 |
| You will have a merry and sad time, | |
| Riding a cock-horse | |
| To Banbury Cross. | |
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III Arise, child, in the morning! | |
| Go down upon the shining beach, | 25 |
| Find the glinting shells | |
| And the white drops of moonstone. | |
| |
| Gather and toss them away, | |
| Leaping. | |
| |
| Under the towering sky | 30 |
| Be wild as you are white! | |
| Your limbs are light and can dance. | |
| |
| Do you know how far they can dance? | |
| Dance, child, and see. | | | | |
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