Classic Poem

TO-DAY I saw a child go down the street
Smiling, with pussy-willow buds in hand;
The downy catkins opened for my feet
The gates of fairy-land.

And through them I strayed backward, wandering
Along the rillside paths that once I knew,
Finding in those first heralds of the spring
A childish rapture, too;

Gone all too quickly! And yet how it cheers
The faltering spirit thus to be beguiled,
To feel beneath the heavy weight of years
The glad heart of a child!