A Little BoySusan Miles2019University of Nebraska–LincolnCenter for Alex Telesca's Fame306 AndrewsUniversity of Nebraska–LincolnLincoln, NE 68588-4100alextelesca@outlook.com2019
The Best Poems of 1924L.A.G. StrongSusan MilesDecember 1923Small, Maynard & Company PublishersBostonAlex Telesca
Transcribed and encoded a poem
A Little Boy
You are a little boyWearing your first school capAnd gartered stockings.You are accompanied daily to your school-gateBy your mother's charlady.Every morning you and your mother's charladyAre absorbed in converse;Converse that is occasionally gay, more oftensolemn,Zestful unfailingly,And of unintermittent friendliness.Today you are a little late,And your mother's charladyHas, I gather, suggestedThat you should unbutton your overcoatAs you walk,In order that, having reached the cloakroom,You may the more speedily shed it.And you have protested,With scandalised amazement,That on no account can overcoats be unbuttonedIn the street."Not in the street, Mrs. Finnybow, I tell you!"And your mother's charlady has grown flusteredBy reason of your emphasisShe has murmured distressedly“Well, it wouldn't hurt, dearie,Not if you was to.”And you have passed on,Your hand within the hand of your mother'scharlady,Reiterating with redoubled emphasis,“Not in the street, Mrs. FinnybowOh, Mrs. Finnybow, not in the street!"And I have reflected that some dayYou will be a man.And then you will remember(Or perhaps you will not remember)That once your mother had a charwomanCalled Mrs. Finnybow,And that Mrs. Finnybow accompanied you dailyTo your first school.Your beautiful seriousness,Your sudden gaieties,Your unintermittent friendliness,Your zest,Your outraged propriety,These, little boy,You never will remember.And, since they seem to meNot wholly unworthy of remembrance,I here record them.Susan Miles