when i was a child

when i was a child,
i spake as a child,
i understood as a child,
i thought as a child:
but yet before i became a man,
i thought as a man,
understood as a man,
spake as...
something in between;
and when i became a man,
i tried to put away childish things.
then i saw through a glass, darkly;
but then face to face:
then i knew in part;
and now i know even
deeper as also i am known.
and i picked up
those childish things,
and thought like a child,
and spake as a child,
and was happier like a child
and more a man than a child.
for now i am
both a child
and not,
and know the secret
that only old,
bitter men realize
after being children
all their lives.