A Special Broadway Valentine from Old Greenleaf

BROADWAY MAGAZINE – As Broadway.tv and Broadway Magazine celebrate Broadway Valentines over the next several days, enjoy some of the most celebrated poets of all time and the poems they have dedicated to some of Broadway’s current hits. Enjoy this tribute to Billy Elliot The Musical from John Greenleaf Whittier. Photo by David Scheinmann.

The Barefoot Boy

Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
With thy turned-up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes;
With thy red lip, redder still
Kissed by strawberries on the hill;
With the sunshine on thy face,
Through thy torn brim’s jaunty grace;
From my heart I give thee joy,—
I was once a barefoot boy!
Prince thou art,—the grown-up man
Only is republican.
Let the million-dollared ride!
Barefoot, trudging at his side,
Thou hast more than he can buy
In the reach of ear and eye,—
Outward sunshine, inward joy:
Blessings on thee, barefoot boy!

Love, Broadway Magazine and Broadway.tv

Tags: Barefoot Boy, Billy Elliot, Broadway Magazine, Broadway Valentine, Broadway.tv, Whittier

This entry was posted on Friday, February 13th, 2009 at 12:59 pm and is filed under Broadway Valentine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.