1 A barefoot boy! I mark him at his play -- 2 For May is here once more, and so is he, -- 3 His dusty trousers, rolled half to the knee, 4 And his bare ankles grimy, too, as they: 5 Cross-hatchings of the nettle, in array 6 Of feverish stripes, hint vividly to me 7 Of woody pathways winding endlessly 8 Along the creek, where even yesterday 9 He plunged his shrinking body -- gasped and shook -- 10 Yet called the water "warm," with never lack 11 Of joy. And so, half enviously I look 12 Upon this graceless barefoot and his track, -- 13 His toe stubbed -- ay, his big toe-nail knocked back 14 Like unto the clasp of an old pocketbook.