TINY FEET
Gabriela Mistral’s, “Tiny Feet”
A child’s tiny feet,
Blue, blue with cold,
How can they see and not protect you?
Oh, my God! (1-4)
Tiny wounded feet,
Bruised all over by pebbles, Abused by snow and soil! (5-7)
Man, being blind, ignores that where you step, you leave
A blossom of bright light, that where you have placed your bleeding little soles a redolent tuberose grows. (8-13)
Since, however, you walk through the streets so straight, you are courageous, without fault. (14-16)
Child’s tiny feet,
Two suffering little gems, How can the people pass, unseeing. (17-19)
The poem “Tiny Feet” (1945) by Gabriela Mistral is a heart breaking poem that describes to us the lives of poverty-stricken children and the need for society to help and protect them. Mistral’s poems resulted from a life of tragedies that she, herself endured. When she was 3 years old, her father left home and never returned, leaving her mother and half-sister to raise her. Mistral was falsely accused of wasting classroom materials in school, and was unable to defend herself. She was then victimized by her peers when they threw stones at her and she was sent home to be taught by her half-sister. This was the first instance of injustice and human cruelty that she encountered which left a profound impression on her as a poet. She was determined to speak for the defenseless, humble and the poor. In the poem, her views are expressed as to how society ignores child poverty. The tone is sad at the beginning of the poem. Within the first stanza, Mistral explains the scene of the poem perfectly. Mistral presents the description of the barefooted feet of a little child, whom has no shoes in the following lines, “A child’s tiny feet, Blue, blue with cold” (1-2). She lets the reader know that the child is suffering in the cold with his painful, wounded feet, yet no one cares if he has
A child’s tiny feet,
Blue, blue with cold,
How can they see and not protect you?
Oh, my God! (1-4)
Tiny wounded feet,
Bruised all over by pebbles, Abused by snow and soil! (5-7)
Man, being blind, ignores that where you step, you leave
A blossom of bright light, that where you have placed your bleeding little soles a redolent tuberose grows. (8-13)
Since, however, you walk through the streets so straight, you are courageous, without fault. (14-16)
Child’s tiny feet,
Two suffering little gems, How can the people pass, unseeing. (17-19)
The poem “Tiny Feet” (1945) by Gabriela Mistral is a heart breaking poem that describes to us the lives of poverty-stricken children and the need for society to help and protect them. Mistral’s poems resulted from a life of tragedies that she, herself endured. When she was 3 years old, her father left home and never returned, leaving her mother and half-sister to raise her. Mistral was falsely accused of wasting classroom materials in school, and was unable to defend herself. She was then victimized by her peers when they threw stones at her and she was sent home to be taught by her half-sister. This was the first instance of injustice and human cruelty that she encountered which left a profound impression on her as a poet. She was determined to speak for the defenseless, humble and the poor. In the poem, her views are expressed as to how society ignores child poverty. The tone is sad at the beginning of the poem. Within the first stanza, Mistral explains the scene of the poem perfectly. Mistral presents the description of the barefooted feet of a little child, whom has no shoes in the following lines, “A child’s tiny feet, Blue, blue with cold” (1-2). She lets the reader know that the child is suffering in the cold with his painful, wounded feet, yet no one cares if he has
Cited: Mistral, Gabriela. Poet Seers. n.d. 26 June 2014 .