MY BODY AND I

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12772, 25 May 1912, Page 3 (Supplement)

MY BODY AND I

I got this body iri the Fleshing Shop v. . When it *was smalKand pudgy-like and red; ..■,';' No teeth it had nor. could it' "stand erect— , . 7 :• A fuzzy down grew. sparse upon its head. . ■■■;■-;■■ At sight of i£ the neighbors stood and laughed, And tickled it and jogged it up and down; . . .• • ... .»..>. Then some one put it m ia little cart,' And wheeled it gaily through 'the gaping town. * ••' . .. . When it grew bigger and could walk ■ , : ■ and. run, :'■■'■ - '■'-.' > ' •'- ■•>. >«)*:. I wet it- in the pond- 'above the, 'mill, Or took it to a building called ia. "school,"^ ■■■■■-. '•-'- n.c?^ ;ts' And there I had to -keep it very -still. And later, when its muscles stronger grew, I made it sow and reap to get its ' ' grain, ""•" I*- Xyy ■:■. ... And tanned' it m the- summer's fiercest suns, , J And toughenedMt with wind and cold.* and rain. It served to keep me- near my friend, tho Earth, It helped me well to get from, place to place, . ' '"' ' '*' ;LV And then, perhaps, a tiny bit of me ;Has sometimes'' worked*- out through its hands and face!- ' • • ;-v*-> • How -long: I've had it! Longer thafttiit seems , i '/

; Since first they wrapt it m a; linen clout,- '',"'•'■' - And now 'tis", shrivelled, patched arid breaking down — > I guess, forspoth, that I have w<>m it out! ' ) • And I? Oh, bless you! lam over .' young. '; •• ;t , * ■'■ A soul ne'er' ages—is not bent iffir gray. wheiv'« the body breaks and crumbles down— • '< '"'' The Fleshing Shop is just across the . way! '• " • •■j'."--—R. Wightman,,- m Literary Digest