Ye are better than all the ballads That ever were sung or said; For ye are living poems, And all the rest are dead.

More from Children (1858)

• A boy’s will is the wind’s will, And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.
• And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend.
• Between the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day’s occupation, That is known as the Children’s Hour.
• But the great Master said, “I see No best in kind, but in degree; I gave a various gift to each, To charm, to strengthen, and to teach.
• God sent his Singers upon earth With songs of sadness and of mirth, That they might touch the hearts of men, And bring them back to heaven again.
• If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.