Power in Childhood

There was never a man who was not boy,
     Since Adam came out of the Garden.
In that little fist, O mother’s joy
And father’s pride! thou living toy,
Is clenched the power that shall save or destroy
     The realms that are waiting their warden!

There was never a woman who was not girl,
     Since Eve was a rose in Eden.
In the faintest smile that comes to curl
The baby mouth, and the tiniest whirl
Of the dimples round it, the charms unfurl
     That shall banner the world ye lead in.

Oh! Take ye not hold of the cup of sin,
     Smile not on the fatal charmer!
Brave boys, fair girls, the coming-in
Of a better age shall so begin:
You are that future whose crown ye win
     In your young truth’s adamant armor.

Last the graybeard, Folly, your pledge despise,
     Till he sinks half-blind in dotage:
In your triumph's blaze shall his blear old eyes
See where the budding of true power lies, 
Swathed, like the Christ, in our childhood's guise,
     To reign in a more remote age.