1. ۱THERE was a child went forth every day;
2. ۲And the first object he look’d upon, that object he became;
3. ۳And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part of the day, or for many
4. ۴ years, or
5. ۵ stretching cycles of years.
6. ۶
7. ۷The early lilacs became part of this child,
8. ۸And grass, and white and red morning-glories, and white and red clover, and the song of
9. ۹ the
10. ۱۰ phoebe-bird,
11. ۱۱And the Third-month lambs, and the sow’s pink-faint litter, and the mare’s foal,
12. ۱۲ and
13. ۱۳ the
14. ۱۴ cow’s calf,
15. ۱۵And the noisy brood of the barn-yard, or by the mire of the pond-side,
16. ۱۶And the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there—and the beautiful curious
17. ۱۷ liquid,
18. ۱۸And the water-plants with their graceful flat heads—all became part of him.
19. ۱۹
20. ۲۰The field-sprouts of Fourth-month and Fifth-month became part of him;
21. ۲۱Winter-grain sprouts, and those of the light-yellow corn, and the esculent roots of the
22. ۲۲ garden,
23. ۲۳
24. ۲۴And the apple-trees cover’d with blossoms, and the fruit afterward, and wood-berries,
25. ۲۵ and
26. ۲۶ the
27. ۲۷ commonest weeds by the road;
28. ۲۸And the old drunkard staggering home from the out-house of the tavern, whence he had
29. ۲۹ lately
30. ۳۰ risen,
31. ۳۱And the school-mistress that pass’d on her way to the school,
32. ۳۲And the friendly boys that pass’d—and the quarrelsome boys,
33. ۳۳And the tidy and fresh-cheek’d girls—and the barefoot negro boy and girl,
34. ۳۴And all the changes of city and country, wherever he went.
35. ۳۵
36. ۳۶His own parents,
37. ۳۷He that had father’d him, and she that had conceiv’d him in her womb, and
38. ۳۸ birth’d
39. ۳۹ him,
40. ۴۰They gave this child more of themselves than that;
41. ۴۱They gave him afterward every day—they became part of him.
42. ۴۲
43. ۴۳The mother at home, quietly placing the dishes on the supper-table;
44. ۴۴The mother with mild words—clean her cap and gown, a wholesome odor falling off her
45. ۴۵ person
46. ۴۶ and
47. ۴۷ clothes as she walks by;
48. ۴۸The father, strong, self-sufficient, manly, mean, anger’d, unjust;
49. ۴۹The blow, the quick loud word, the tight bargain, the crafty lure,
50. ۵۰The family usages, the language, the company, the furniture—the yearning and swelling
51. ۵۱ heart,
52. ۵۲Affection that will not be gainsay’d—the sense of what is real—the thought
53. ۵۳ if,
54. ۵۴ after
55. ۵۵ all, it should prove unreal,
56. ۵۶The doubts of day-time and the doubts of night-time—the curious whether and how,
57. ۵۷Whether that which appears so is so, or is it all flashes and specks?
58. ۵۸Men and women crowding fast in the streets—if they are not flashes and specks, what
59. ۵۹ are
60. ۶۰ they?
61. ۶۱The streets themselves, and the façades of houses, and goods in the windows,
62. ۶۲Vehicles, teams, the heavy-plank’d wharves—the huge crossing at the ferries,
63. ۶۳The village on the highland, seen from afar at sunset—the river between,
64. ۶۴Shadows, aureola and mist, the light falling on roofs and gables of white or brown, three
65. ۶۵ miles
66. ۶۶ off,
67. ۶۷
68. ۶۸The schooner near by, sleepily dropping down the tide—the little boat
69. ۶۹ slack-tow’d
70. ۷۰ astern,
71. ۷۱The hurrying tumbling waves, quick-broken crests, slapping,
72. ۷۲The strata of color’d clouds, the long bar of maroon-tint, away solitary by
73. ۷۳ itself—the
74. ۷۴ spread of purity it lies motionless in,
75. ۷۵The horizon’s edge, the flying sea-crow, the fragrance of salt marsh and shore mud;
76. ۷۶These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who now goes, and will
77. ۷۷ always go
78. ۷۸ forth
79. ۷۹ every day.