To Sigurd, Scarcely Three + 

When you are old enough to know + 

The joys of kite and boat and bow + 

And other suchlike splendid things + 

That boyhood’s rounded decade brings, + 

I shall not give you tropes and rhymes; + 

But, rising to those rousing times, + 

I shall ply well the craft I know + 

Of shaping kite and boat and bow, + 

For you shall teach me once again + 

The goodly art of being ten. + 

Meanwhile, as on a rainy day + 

When ’tis not possible to play, + 

The while you do your best to grow + 

I ply the other craft I know + 

And strive to build for you the mood + 

Of daring and of fortitude + 

With fitted word and shapen phrase, + 

Against those later wonder-days + 

When first you glimpse the world of men + 

Beyond the bleaker side of ten. + 