get back! give me air! give me freedom and room,

the warm earth and bright water, the crowding sweet bloom

of the flowers, and the measureless, marvellous sky,—

all of these all the time, and a shelter close by

where silence and beauty and peace are my own

in a chamber alone.

then bring me the others! “a child” is a crime;

it is “children” who grow through the beautiful time

of their childhood up into the age you are in.

“a child” must needs suffer and sicken and sin;

the life of a child needs the life of its kind,

o ye stupid and blind!

then the best of your heart and the best of your brain!

the face of all beauty! the soul without stain!

your noblest! your wisest! with us is the place

to consecrate life to the good of the race!

that our childhood may pass with the best you can give,

and our manhood so live!

the wisdom of years, the experience deep

that shall laugh with our waking and watch with our sleep,

the patience of age, the keen honor of youth,

to guide us in doing and teach us in truth,

with the garnered ripe fruit of the world at our feet,

both the bitter and sweet!

what is this that you offer? one man’s narrow purse!

one woman’s strained life, and a heart straining worse!

confined as in prisons—held down as in caves—

the teaching of tyrants—the service of slaves—

the garments of falsehood and bondage—the weight

of your own evil state.

and what is this brought as atonement for these?

for our blind misdirection, our death and disease;

28for the grief of our childhood, the loss and the wrong;

for the pain of our childhood, the agony strong;

for the shame and the sin and the sorrow thereof—

dare you say it is love?

love? first give freedom,—the right of the brute!

the air with its sunshine, the earth with its fruit.

love? first give wisdom,—intelligent care,

that shall help to bring out all the good that is there.

love? first give justice! there’s nothing above!

and then you may love!