The speaker watches a sixteen-month-old named Janet and tries to imagine what is going on inside her. Her lips seem to hold “changing dreams,” but those dreams are not put into words. Instead, the poem turns them into delicate outdoor pictures: a thin curl of blue smoke from a campfire by a mountain lake, then light haze drifting over miles of cornfields at sunrise. These are quiet, open, early-morning scenes, full of soft blues and golds. The mood is tender and peaceful, almost hushed, as if the child’s inner world is as fresh and fleeting as morning. The final image—young light blue calling to young light gold—suggests something just beginning, a gentle meeting between the child’s small consciousness and the larger world. The speaker feels wonder and affection, not trying to explain Janet but simply watching her with reverence.
Sixteen Months — Summary
On the lips of the child Janet float changing dreams. It is a thin spiral of blue smoke, A morning campfire at a mountain lake.
On the lips of the child Janet, Wisps of haze on ten miles of corn. Young light blue calls to young light gold of morning.