BARTER

Kiddies must have little shoes

Softly buckled round their toes,

Rompers wrought in butcher blues,

That's the way the money goes.

In the Summer silky cool

Fabrics foaming in the breeze;

In the Winter muffling wool —

We must buy our kiddies these.

Woolly gaiters, tasselled hoods,

Mantles soft that flow and fall,

All the very best of foods,

All the very best of all.

Babies must have songs for sleep,

Anxious watchings night and day,

Kisses if they laugh or weep,

So the ripe hours rush away.

And for this we pay ( it seems

We may not serve visions, too )

With our high neglected dreams,

With great things we meant to do.