Friday, August 31, 2012

Poetry Friday: The Castle-Builder

My son showed me this poem, in a book we have called The Children's Own Longfellow. It seems appropriate in a week full of never-ending work.

The Castle-Builder
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A gentle boy, with soft and silken locks,
A dreamy boy, with brown and tender eyes,
A castle-builder, with his wooden blocks,
And towers that touch imaginary skies.

A fearless rider on his father's knee,
An eager listener unto stories told
At the Round Table of the nursery,
Of heroes and adventures manifold.

There will be other towers for thee to build;
There will be other steeds for thee to ride;
There will be other legends, and all filled
With greater marvels and more glorified.

Build on, and make thy castles high and fair,
Rising and reaching upward to the skies;
Listen to voices in the upper air,
Nor lose thy simple faith in mysteries.

Here is the roundup for today.

3 comments:

Linda B said...

It's such a sweet poem Ruth. I love the serenity yet strength in it. Thank you. Hope things after the storm are going as well as can be.

Tara @ A Teaching Life said...

So great to see this poem...it was the first one my son memorized with my help many years ago!

GatheringBooks said...

Such an inspiring poem filled with quiet strength and the beauty of dreaming. Thanks for sharing.