A Barefoot Boy

A barefoot boy! I mark him at his play -- For May is here once more, and so is he, -- His dusty trousers, rolled half to the knee, And his bare ankles grimy, too, as they: Cross-hatchings of the nettle, in array Of feverish stripes, hint vividly to me Of woody pathways winding endlessly Along the creek, where even yesterday He plunged his shrinking body -- gasped and shook -- Yet called the water 'warm,' with never lack Of joy. And so, half enviously I look Upon this graceless barefoot and his track, -- His toe stubbed -- ay, his big toe-nail knocked back Like unto the clasp of an old pocketbook.