Hi-spy

Eugene Field 1850 (St. Louis) – 1895 (Chicago)



Strange that the city thoroughfare,
 Noisy and bustling all the day,
Should with the night renounce its care,
 And lend itself to children's play!

Oh, girls are girls, and boys are boys,
 And have been so since Abel's birth,
And shall be so till dolls and toys
 Are with the children swept from earth.

The self-same sport that crowns the day
 Of many a Syrian shepherd's son,
Beguiles the little lads at play
 By night in stately Babylon.

I hear their voices in the street,
 Yet 't is so different now from then!
Come, brother! from your winding-sheet,
 And let us two be boys again!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
80

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD BXBX EFEF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 576
Words 107
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Eugene Field

Eugene Field, Sr. was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. more…

All Eugene Field poems | Eugene Field Books

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