Boy, Reading

So short a time ago this
page of print
Meant nothing to his eyes.
And so he' d go
Shouting and banging
things, adventure-bent,
Fenced in unbearably by
mother's "No!

But now-Oh, now he's
found himself a gate!
A way to wander far from
mother's call;
And not be scolded if he
comes in late,
Dripping with pirate's
blood, or clanking all
Around the house in armor,
or bedecked
With beads and feathers
and a scalp or two;
And not be punished if the
house is wrecked
After his skirmish with a
dragon!.. Who
Would have believed such
free adventuring
Permissible? He sneaks a
glance at mother,
There reading, too-and
does not dream this thing:
While he's on one wild
jaunt, she's on another!