Is Eden out of time and out of space?
And do you gather about us when pale light
Shining on water and fallen among leaves,
And winds blowing from flowers, and whirr of feathers
And the green quiet, have uplifted the heart?
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
Somewhere between the overly intrusive parent and the parent who forgets about us after we’re out of the house is the ideally empathetic parent who recognizes the relativity of choice, the errors of his or her own way, and our need to find our own way and who can stay with us at a respectful distance while we do it.
—Roger Gould (20th century)
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing boy.
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)