Classic Poem

We send them off to school again today,
This cool September morning. All the street
Is musical with patter of small feet,
And little, shining faces all the way
Seem wayside posies for our smiles to greet.

I wonder if they ever guess or know
With what strange tenderness we watch them so?

Just children on their way to school again?
Nay, it is ours to watch a greater thing.
These are the World's Rebuilders! These must bring
Order to chaos, comforting to pain
And light in blasted fields new fires of Spring.

Dear Lord, Thy childish hands were weak and small,
Yet had they power to clasp the world withal,—
Grant these, Thy little kindred, strength as true,—
They have so much to learn, so much to do!