Michael - A Pastoral Poem Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIHJKLBKFMMMN OPQBMRSTPBUVWPXMYMZ BXA2B2C2MD2QMME2MMF2 MPMA2HMMG2MMMH2I2J2K 2L2PM2MN2O2A2P2Q2 MR2MWS2BJ2T2MU2V2MW2 X2Y2MBZMQBZ2A3MBB3MS C3Z2D3E3 F3BE3E3G3E3E3E3ME3MM PL2E3E3T2MME3WE3E3E2 MYTBBH3 MME3L2XBMV2MMBA2MMHM E3E3E3 SP2E3PBE3I3E3W2E3ME3 J3ME3K3MM L3M3E3E3E3BN3E3E3F2E 3O3P3Q3MMX2 E3MMME3I3XTE3Q L3L2R3 E3XS3E3V2MPT3TMXFE3E 3U3E3MMQPMMP2MUV3Q2K E3V2PMME3M M3R3E3PE3E3E3V2W3E3Q MX3E3E3MQ2I3ME3ME3Z2 SMY3X3E3ME3BE3Z3PE3K R3E3A4E3E3 A4MB4Z2W2XMMK3PC4MW3 MMKMMZ2E3T T2E3U3XE3SD3I3BE3E3B E3E3MW3U3M BE3E3ML3F3T2E3E3W2E3 XY2SE3E3D4T3MME4F4P2 ME3C4SG4E3T3MME4T3W3 ME3PM3PH4Q2E3BI4E3QJ 4E3E3W2MPI3O3T2PK4L4 E3E3E3E3W2HMM4I3E3QP ME3HSE3MN4PZE3HL4QW2 ML2T3E3MBPE3E3E3V3 O4E3E3E3E3E3MSE3MMME 3P4SME3C2MQT2T3TZ2V2 U3Q2XE3M P2ME3BMMB2ME3I3K3MS3 Y3E3E3BE3H C2Q4E3S3E3E3BE3E3H3E 3E3E3MC2BIf from the public way you turn your steps | A |
Up the tumultuous brook of Green head Ghyll | B |
You will suppose that with an upright path | C |
Your feet must struggle in such bold ascent | D |
The pastoral mountains front you face to face | E |
But courage for around that boisterous brook | F |
The mountains have all opened out themselves | G |
And made a hidden valley of their own | H |
No habitation can be seen but they | I |
Who journey thither find themselves alone | H |
With a few sheep with rocks and stones and kites | J |
That overhead are sailing in the sky | K |
It is in truth an utter solitude | L |
Nor should I have made mention of this Dell | B |
But for one object which you might pass by | K |
Might see and notice not Beside the brook | F |
Appears a straggling heap of unhewn stones | M |
And to that simple object appertains | M |
A story unenriched with strange events | M |
Yet not unfit I deem for the fireside | N |
Or for the summer shade It was the first | O |
Of those domestic tales that spake to me | P |
Of Shepherds dwellers in the valleys men | Q |
Whom I already loved not verily | B |
For their own sakes but for the fields and hills | M |
Where was their occupation and abode | R |
And hence this Tale while I was yet a Boy | S |
Careless of books yet having felt the power | T |
Of Nature by the gentle agency | P |
Of natural objects led me on to feel | B |
For passions that were not my own and think | U |
At random and imperfectly indeed | V |
On man the heart of man and human life | W |
Therefore although it be a history | P |
Homely and rude I will relate the same | X |
For the delight of a few natural hearts | M |
And with yet fonder feeling for the sake | Y |
Of youthful Poets who among these hills | M |
Will be my second self when I am gone | Z |
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Upon the forest side in Grasmere Vale | B |
There dwelt a Shepherd Michael was his name | X |
An old man stout of heart and strong of limb | A2 |
His bodily frame had been from youth to age | B2 |
Of an unusual strength his mind was keen | C2 |
Intense and frugal apt for all affairs | M |
And in his shepherd's calling he was prompt | D2 |
And watchful more than ordinary men | Q |
Hence had he learned the meaning of all winds | M |
Of blasts of every tone and oftentimes | M |
When others heeded not he heard the South | E2 |
Make subterraneous music like the noise | M |
Of bagpipers on distant Highland hills | M |
The Shepherd at such warning of his flock | F2 |
Bethought him and he to himself would say | M |
The winds are now devising work for me | P |
And truly at all times the storm that drives | M |
The traveller to a shelter summoned him | A2 |
Up to the mountains he had been alone | H |
Amid the heart of many thousand mists | M |
That came to him and left him on the heights | M |
So lived he till his eightieth year was past | G2 |
And grossly that man errs who should suppose | M |
That the green valleys and the streams and rocks | M |
Were things indifferent to the Shepherd's thoughts | M |
Fields where with cheerful spirits he had breathed | H2 |
The common air hills which with vigorous step | I2 |
He had so often climbed which had impressed | J2 |
So many incidents upon his mind | K2 |
Of hardship skill or courage joy or fear | L2 |
Which like a book preserved the memory | P |
Of the dumb animals whom he had saved | M2 |
Had fed or sheltered linking to such acts | M |
The certainty of honourable gain | N2 |
Those fields those hills what could they less had laid | O2 |
Strong hold on his affections were to him | A2 |
A pleasurable feeling of blind love | P2 |
The pleasure which there is in life itself | Q2 |
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His days had not been passed in singleness | M |
His Helpmate was a comely matron old | R2 |
Though younger than himself full twenty years | M |
She was a woman of a stirring life | W |
Whose heart was in her house two wheels she had | S2 |
Of antique form this large for spinning wool | B |
That small for flax and if one wheel had rest | J2 |
It was because the other was at work | T2 |
The Pair had but one inmate in their house | M |
An only Child who had been born to them | U2 |
When Michael telling o'er his years began | V2 |
To deem that he was old in shepherd's phrase | M |
With one foot in the grave This only Son | W2 |
With two brave sheep dogs tried in many a storm | X2 |
The one of an inestimable worth | Y2 |
Made all their household I may truly say | M |
That they were as a proverb in the vale | B |
For endless industry When day was gone | Z |
And from their occupations out of doors | M |
The Son and Father were come home even then | Q |
Their labour did not cease unless when all | B |
Turned to the cleanly supper board and there | Z2 |
Each with a mess of pottage and skimmed milk | A3 |
Sat round the basket piled with oaten cakes | M |
And their plain home made cheese Yet when the meal | B |
Was ended Luke for so the Son was named | B3 |
And his old Father both betook themselves | M |
To such convenient work as might employ | S |
Their hands by the fireside perhaps to card | C3 |
Wool for the Housewife's spindle or repair | Z2 |
Some injury done to sickle flail or scythe | D3 |
Or other implement of house or field | E3 |
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Down from the ceiling by the chimney's edge | F3 |
That in our ancient uncouth country style | B |
With huge and black projection overbrowed | E3 |
Large space beneath as duly as the light | E3 |
Of day grew dim the Housewife hung a lamp | G3 |
An aged utensil which had performed | E3 |
Service beyond all others of its kind | E3 |
Early at evening did it burn and late | E3 |
Surviving comrade of uncounted hours | M |
Which going by from year to year had found | E3 |
And left the couple neither gay perhaps | M |
Nor cheerful yet with objects and with hopes | M |
Living a life of eager industry | P |
And now when Luke had reached his eighteenth year | L2 |
There by the light of this old lamp they sate | E3 |
Father and Son while far into the night | E3 |
The Housewife plied her own peculiar work | T2 |
Making the cottage through the silent hours | M |
Murmur as with the sound of summer flies | M |
This light was famous in its neighbourhood | E3 |
And was a public symbol of the life | W |
That thrifty Pair had lived For as it chanced | E3 |
Their cottage on a plot of rising ground | E3 |
Stood single with large prospect north and south | E2 |
High into Easedale up to Dunmail Raise | M |
And westward to the village near the lake | Y |
And from this constant light so regular | T |
And so far seen the House itself by all | B |
Who dwelt within the limits of the vale | B |
Both old and young was named The Evening Star | H3 |
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Thus living on through such a length of years | M |
The Shepherd if he loved himself must needs | M |
Have loved his Helpmate but to Michael's heart | E3 |
This son of his old age was yet more dear | L2 |
Less from instinctive tenderness the same | X |
Fond spirit that blindly works in the blood of all | B |
Than that a child more than all other gifts | M |
That earth can offer to declining man | V2 |
Brings hope with it and forward looking thoughts | M |
And stirrings of inquietude when they | M |
By tendency of nature needs must fail | B |
Exceeding was the love he bare to him | A2 |
His heart and his heart's joy For oftentimes | M |
Old Michael while he was a babe in arms | M |
Had done him female service not alone | H |
For pastime and delight as is the use | M |
Of fathers but with patient mind enforced | E3 |
To acts of tenderness and he had rocked | E3 |
His cradle as with a woman's gentle hand | E3 |
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And in a later time ere yet the Boy | S |
Had put on boy's attire did Michael love | P2 |
Albeit of a stern unbending mind | E3 |
To have the Young one in his sight when he | P |
Wrought in the field or on his shepherd's stool | B |
Sate with a fettered sheep before him stretched | E3 |
Under the large old oak that near his door | I3 |
Stood single and from matchless depth of shade | E3 |
Chosen for the Shearer's covert from the sun | W2 |
Thence in our rustic dialect was called | E3 |
The Clipping Tree a name which yet it bears | M |
There while they two were sitting in the shade | E3 |
With others round them earnest all and blithe | J3 |
Would Michael exercise his heart with looks | M |
Of fond correction and reproof bestowed | E3 |
Upon the Child if he disturbed the sheep | K3 |
By catching at their legs or with his shouts | M |
Scared them while they lay still beneath the shears | M |
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And when by Heaven's good grace the boy grew up | L3 |
A healthy Lad and carried in his cheek | M3 |
Two steady roses that were five years old | E3 |
Then Michael from a winter coppice cut | E3 |
With his own hand a sapling which he hooped | E3 |
With iron making it throughout in all | B |
Due requisites a perfect shepherd's staff | N3 |
And gave it to the Boy wherewith equipt | E3 |
He as a watchman oftentimes was placed | E3 |
At gate or gap to stem or turn the flock | F2 |
And to his office prematurely called | E3 |
There stood the urchin as you will divine | O3 |
Something between a hindrance and a help | P3 |
And for this cause not always I believe | Q3 |
Receiving from his Father hire of praise | M |
Though nought was left undone which staff or voice | M |
Or looks or threatening gestures could perform | X2 |
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But soon as Luke full ten years old could stand | E3 |
Against the mountain blasts and to the heights | M |
Not fearing toil nor length of weary ways | M |
He with his Father daily went and they | M |
Were as companions why should I relate | E3 |
That objects which the Shepherd loved before | I3 |
Were dearer now that from the Boy there came | X |
Feelings and emanations things which were | T |
Light to the sun and music to the wind | E3 |
And that the old Man's heart seemed born again | Q |
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Thus in his Father's sight the Boy grew up | L3 |
And now when he had reached his eighteenth year | L2 |
He was his comfort and his daily hope | R3 |
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While in this sort the simple household lived | E3 |
From day to day to Michael's ear there came | X |
Distressful tidings Long before the time | S3 |
Of which I speak the Shepherd had been bound | E3 |
In surety for his brother's son a man | V2 |
Of an industrious life and ample means | M |
But unforeseen misfortunes suddenly | P |
Had prest upon him and old Michael now | T3 |
Was summoned to discharge the forfeiture | T |
A grievous penalty but little less | M |
Than half his substance This unlooked for claim | X |
At the first hearing for a moment took | F |
More hope out of his life than he supposed | E3 |
That any old man ever could have lost | E3 |
As soon as he had armed himself with strength | U3 |
To look his trouble in the face it seemed | E3 |
The Shepherd's sole resource to sell at once | M |
A portion of his patrimonial fields | M |
Such was his first resolve he thought again | Q |
And his heart failed him Isabel said he | P |
Two evenings after he had heard the news | M |
I have been toiling more than seventy years | M |
And in the open sunshine of God's love | P2 |
Have we all lived yet if these fields of ours | M |
Should pass into a stranger's hand I think | U |
That I could not lie quiet in my grave | V3 |
Our lot is a hard lot the sun himself | Q2 |
Has scarcely been more diligent than I | K |
And I have lived to be a fool at last | E3 |
To my own family An evil man | V2 |
That was and made an evil choice if he | P |
Were false to us and if he were not false | M |
There are ten thousand to whom loss like this | M |
Had been no sorrow I forgive him but | E3 |
'Twere better to be dumb than to talk thus | M |
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When I began my purpose was to speak | M3 |
Of remedies and of a cheerful hope | R3 |
Our Luke shall leave us Isabel the land | E3 |
Shall not go from us and it shall be free | P |
He shall possess it free as is the wind | E3 |
That passes over it We have thou know'st | E3 |
Another kinsman he will be our friend | E3 |
In this distress He is a prosperous man | V2 |
Thriving in trade and Luke to him shall go | W3 |
And with his kinsman's help and his own thrift | E3 |
He quickly will repair this loss and then | Q |
He may return to us If here he stay | M |
What can be done Where every one is poor | X3 |
What can be gained At this the old Man paused | E3 |
And Isabel sat silent for her mind | E3 |
Was busy looking back into past times | M |
There's Richard Bateman thought she to herself | Q2 |
He was a parish boy at the church door | I3 |
They made a gathering for him shillings pence | M |
And halfpennies wherewith the neighbours bought | E3 |
A basket which they filled with pedlar's wares | M |
And with this basket on his arm the lad | E3 |
Went up to London found a master there | Z2 |
Who out of many chose the trusty boy | S |
To go and overlook his merchandise | M |
Beyond the seas where he grew wondrous rich | Y3 |
And left estates and monies to the poor | X3 |
And at his birth place built a chapel floored | E3 |
With marble which he sent from foreign lands | M |
These thoughts and many others of like sort | E3 |
Passed quickly through the mind of Isabel | B |
And her face brightened The old Man was glad | E3 |
And thus resumed Well Isabel this scheme | Z3 |
These two days has been meat and drink to me | P |
Far more than we have lost is left us yet | E3 |
We have enough I wish indeed that I | K |
Were younger but this hope is a good hope | R3 |
Make ready Luke's best garments of the best | E3 |
Buy for him more and let us send him forth | A4 |
To morrow or the next day or to night | E3 |
If he could go the boy should go to night | E3 |
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Here Michael ceased and to the fields went forth | A4 |
With a light heart The Housewife for five days | M |
Was restless morn and night and all day long | B4 |
Wrought on with her best fingers to prepare | Z2 |
Things needful for the journey of her Son | W2 |
But Isabel was glad when Sunday came | X |
To stop her in her work for when she lay | M |
By Michael's side she through the last two nights | M |
Heard him how he was troubled in his sleep | K3 |
And when they rose at morning she could see | P |
That all his hopes were gone That day at noon | C4 |
She said to Luke while they two by themselves | M |
Were sitting at the door Thou must not go | W3 |
We have no other Child but thee to lose | M |
None to remember do not go away | M |
For if thou leave thy Father he will die | K |
The Youth made answer with a jocund voice | M |
And Isabel when she had told her fears | M |
Recovered heart That evening her best fare | Z2 |
Did she bring forth and all together sat | E3 |
Like happy people round a Christmas fire | T |
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With daylight Isabel resumed her work | T2 |
And all the ensuing week the house appeared | E3 |
As cheerful as a grove in Spring at length | U3 |
The expected letter from their kinsman came | X |
With kind assurances that he would do | E3 |
His utmost for the welfare of the Boy | S |
To which requests were added that forthwith | D3 |
He might be sent to him Ten times or more | I3 |
The letter was read over Isabel | B |
Went forth to show it to the neighbours round | E3 |
Nor was there at that time on English land | E3 |
A prouder heart than Luke's When Isabel | B |
Had to her house returned the old man said | E3 |
He shall depart to morrow To this word | E3 |
The Housewife answered talking much of things | M |
Which if at such short notice he should go | W3 |
Would surely be forgotten But at length | U3 |
She gave consent and Michael was at ease | M |
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Near the tumultuous brook of Green head Ghyll | B |
In that deep valley Michael had designed | E3 |
To build a Sheep fold and before he heard | E3 |
The tidings of his melancholy loss | M |
For this same purpose he had gathered up | L3 |
A heap of stones which by the streamlet's edge | F3 |
Lay thrown together ready for the work | T2 |
With Luke that evening thitherward he walked | E3 |
And soon as they had reached the place he stopped | E3 |
And thus the old Man spake to him My Son | W2 |
To morrow thou wilt leave me with full heart | E3 |
I look upon thee for thou art the same | X |
That wert a promise to me ere thy birth | Y2 |
And all thy life hast been my daily joy | S |
I will relate to thee some little part | E3 |
Of our two histories 'twill do thee good | E3 |
When thou art from me even if I should touch | D4 |
On things thou canst not know of After thou | T3 |
First cam'st into the world as oft befalls | M |
To new born infants thou didst sleep away | M |
Two days and blessings from thy Father's tongue | E4 |
Then fell upon thee Day by day passed on | F4 |
And still I loved thee with increasing love | P2 |
Never to living ear came sweeter sounds | M |
Than when I heard thee by our own fireside | E3 |
First uttering without words a natural tune | C4 |
While thou a feeding babe didst in thy joy | S |
Sing at thy Mother's breast Month followed month | G4 |
And in the open fields my life was passed | E3 |
And on the mountains else I think that thou | T3 |
Hadst been brought up upon thy Father's knees | M |
But we were playmates Luke among these hills | M |
As well thou knowest in us the old and young | E4 |
Have played together nor with me didst thou | T3 |
Lack any pleasure which a boy can know | W3 |
Luke had a manly heart but at these words | M |
He sobbed aloud The old Man grasped his hand | E3 |
And said Nay do not take it so I see | P |
That these are things of which I need not speak | M3 |
Even to the utmost I have been to thee | P |
A kind and a good Father and herein | H4 |
I but repay a gift which I myself | Q2 |
Received at others' hands for though now old | E3 |
Beyond the common life of man I still | B |
Remember them who loved me in my youth | I4 |
Both of them sleep together here they lived | E3 |
As all their Forefathers had done and when | Q |
At length their time was come they were not loth | J4 |
To give their bodies to the family mould | E3 |
I wished that thou should'st live the life they lived | E3 |
But 'tis a long time to look back my Son | W2 |
And see so little gain from threescore years | M |
These fields were burthened when they came to me | P |
Till I was forty years of age not more | I3 |
Than half of my inheritance was mine | O3 |
I toiled and toiled God blessed me in my work | T2 |
And till these three weeks past the land was free | P |
It looks as if it never could endure | K4 |
Another Master Heaven forgive me Luke | L4 |
If I judge ill for thee but it seems good | E3 |
That thou should'st go At this the old Man paused | E3 |
Then pointing to the stones near which they stood | E3 |
Thus after a short silence he resumed | E3 |
This was a work for us and now my Son | W2 |
It is a work for me But lay one stone | H |
Here lay it for me Luke with thine own hands | M |
Nay Boy be of good hope we both may live | M4 |
To see a better day At eighty four | I3 |
I still am strong and hale do thou thy part | E3 |
I will do mine I will begin again | Q |
With many tasks that were resigned to thee | P |
Up to the heights and in among the storms | M |
Will I without thee go again and do | E3 |
All works which I was wont to do alone | H |
Before I knew thy face Heaven bless thee Boy | S |
Thy heart these two weeks has been beating fast | E3 |
With many hopes it should be so yes yes | M |
I knew that thou could'st never have a wish | N4 |
To leave me Luke thou hast been bound to me | P |
Only by links of love when thou art gone | Z |
What will be left to us But I forget | E3 |
My purposes Lay now the corner stone | H |
As I requested and hereafter Luke | L4 |
When thou art gone away should evil men | Q |
Be thy companions think of me my Son | W2 |
And of this moment hither turn thy thoughts | M |
And God will strengthen thee amid all fear | L2 |
And all temptation Luke I pray that thou | T3 |
May'st bear in mind the life thy Fathers lived | E3 |
Who being innocent did for that cause | M |
Bestir them in good deeds Now fare thee well | B |
When thou return'st thou in this place wilt see | P |
A work which is not here a covenant | E3 |
'Twill be between us but whatever fate | E3 |
Befall thee I shall love thee to the last | E3 |
And bear thy memory with me to the grave | V3 |
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The Shepherd ended here and Luke stooped down | O4 |
And as his Father had requested laid | E3 |
The first stone of the Sheep fold At the sight | E3 |
The old Man's grief broke from him to his heart | E3 |
He pressed his Son he kissed him and wept | E3 |
And to the house together they returned | E3 |
Hushed was that House in peace or seeming peace | M |
Ere the night fell with morrow's dawn the Boy | S |
Began his journey and when he had reached | E3 |
The public way he put on a bold face | M |
And all the neighbours as he passed their doors | M |
Came forth with wishes and with farewell prayers | M |
That followed him till he was out of sight | E3 |
A good report did from their Kinsman come | P4 |
Of Luke and his well doing and the Boy | S |
Wrote loving letters full of wondrous news | M |
Which as the Housewife phrased it were throughout | E3 |
The prettiest letters that were ever seen | C2 |
Both parents read them with rejoicing hearts | M |
So many months passed on and once again | Q |
The Shepherd went about his daily work | T2 |
With confident and cheerful thoughts and now | T3 |
Sometimes when he could find a leisure hour | T |
He to that valley took his way and there | Z2 |
Wrought at the Sheep fold Meantime Luke began | V2 |
To slacken in his duty and at length | U3 |
He in the dissolute city gave himself | Q2 |
To evil courses ignominy and shame | X |
Fell on him so that he was driven at last | E3 |
To seek a hiding place beyond the seas | M |
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There is a comfort in the strength of love | P2 |
'Twill make a thing endurable which else | M |
Would overset the brain or break the heart | E3 |
I have conversed with more than one who well | B |
Remember the old Man and what he was | M |
Years after he had heard this heavy news | M |
His bodily frame had been from youth to age | B2 |
Of an unusual strength Among the rocks | M |
He went and still looked up to sun and cloud | E3 |
And listened to the wind and as before | I3 |
Performed all kinds of labour for his sheep | K3 |
And for the land his small inheritance | M |
And to that hollow dell from time to time | S3 |
Did he repair to build the Fold of which | Y3 |
His flock had need 'Tis not forgotten yet | E3 |
The pity which was then in every heart | E3 |
For the old Man and 'tis believed by all | B |
That many and many a day he thither went | E3 |
And never lifted up a single stone | H |
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There by the Sheep fold sometimes was he seen | C2 |
Sitting alone or with his faithful Dog | Q4 |
Then old beside him lying at his feet | E3 |
The length of full seven years from time to time | S3 |
He at the building of this Sheep fold wrought | E3 |
And left the work unfinished when he died | E3 |
Three years or little more did Isabel | B |
Survive her Husband at her death the estate | E3 |
Was sold and went into a stranger's hand | E3 |
The Cottage which was named The Evening Star | H3 |
Is gone the ploughshare has been through the ground | E3 |
On which it stood great changes have been wrought | E3 |
In all the neighbourhood yet the oak is left | E3 |
That grew beside their door and the remains | M |
Of the unfinished Sheep fold may be seen | C2 |
Beside the boisterous brook of Green head Ghyll | B |
William Wordsworth
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Horace Felix: Most cherished poem which speaks to family and parents love of a child that lost hope and stayed far from home and love.
Rememberance of hope in all of us !
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