I will sing a song, Said the owl. You sing a song, sing-song Ugly fowl! What will you sing about, Night in and day out? All about the night, When the gray With her cloak smothers bright, Hard, sharp day. Oh, the moon! the cool dew! And the shadows!–tu-whoo! I will sing a song, Said […]

The sun is gone down And the moon’s in the sky But the sun will come up And the moon be laid by. The flower is asleep. But it is not dead, When the morning shines It will lift its head. When winter comes It will die! No, no, It will only hide From the […]

Where did you come from, baby dear? Out of the everywhere into here. Where did you get those eyes so blue? Out of the sky as I came through. What makes the light in them sparkle and spin? Some of the starry twinkles left in. Where did you get that little tear? I found it […]

The lightning and thunder They go and they come: But the stars and the stillness Are always at home.

What would you see, if I took you up My little aerie-stair? You would see the sky like a clear blue cup Turned upside down in the air. What would you do, up my aerie-stair In my little nest on the tree? With cry upon cry you would ripple the air To get at what […]

I. Willie speaks. Is it wrong, the wish to be great, For I do wish it so? I have asked already my sister Kate; She says she does not know. Yestereve at the gate I stood Watching the sun in the west; When I saw him look so grand and good It swelled up in […]

Little Boy Blue lost his way in a wood– Sing apples and cherries, roses and honey: He said, “I would not go back if I could, It’s all so jolly and funny!” He sang, “This wood is all my own– Apples and cherries, roses and honey! Here I will sit, a king on my throne, […]

Said the boy as he read, “I too will be bold, I will fight for the truth and its glory!” He went to the playground, and soon had told A very cowardly story! Said the girl as she read, “That was grand, I declare! What a true, what a lovely, sweet soul!” In half-an-hour she […]

King Cole he reigned in Aureoland, But the sceptre was seldom in his hand Far oftener was there his golden cup– He ate too much, but he drank all up! To be called a king and to be a king, That is one thing and another thing! So his majesty’s head began to shake, And […]

I will think as thinks the rabbit:– Oh, delight In the night When the moon Sets the tune To the woods! And the broods All run out, Frisk about, Go and come, Beat the drum– Here in groups, There in troops! Now there’s one! Now it’s gone! There are none! And now they are dancing […]

There was a girl that lost things– Nor only from her hand; She lost, indeed–why, most things, As if they had been sand! She said, “But I must use them, And can’t look after all! Indeed I did not lose them, I only let them fall!” That’s how she lost her thimble, It fell upon […]

“What! you Dr. Doddridge’s dog, and not know who made you?” My little dog, who blessed you With such white toothy-pegs? And who was it that dressed you In such a lot of legs? Perhaps he never told you! Perhaps you know quite well, And beg me not to scold you For you can’t speak […]

Loving looks the large-eyed cow, Loving stares the long-eared ass At Heaven’s glory in the grass! Child, with added human birth Come to bring the child of earth Glad repentance, tearful mirth, And a seat beside the hearth At the Father’s knee– Make us peaceful as thy cow; Make us patient as thine ass; Make […]

“Little one, who straight hast come Down the heavenly stair, Tell us all about your home, And the father there.” “He is such a one as I, Like as like can be. Do his will, and, by and by, Home and him you’ll see.”

There is a river whose waters run asleep run run ever singing in the shallows dumb in the hollows sleeping so deep and all the swallows that dip their feathers in the hollows or in the shallows are the merriest swallows and the nests they make with the clay they cake with the water they […]

I think I might be weary of this day That comes inevitably every year, The same when I was young and strong and gay, The same when I am old and growing sere– I should grow weary of it every year But that thou comest to me every day. I shall grow weary if thou […]

In the winter, flowers are springing; In the winter, woods are green, Where our banished birds are singing, Where our summer sun is seen! Our cold midnights are coeval With an evening and a morn Where the forest-gods hold revel, And the spring is newly born! While the earth is full of fighting, While men […]

Poems by Three Friends. TO GREVILLE MATHESON MACDONALD. First, most, to thee, my son, I give this book In which a friend’s and brother’s verses blend With mine; for not son only–brother, friend, Art thou, through sonship which no veil can brook Between the eyes that in each other look, Or any shadow ‘twixt the […]

Heart, thou must learn to do without– That is the riches of the poor, Their liberty is to endure; Wrap thou thine old cloak thee about, And carol loud and carol stout; Let thy rags fly, nor wish them fewer; Thou too must learn to do without, Must earn the riches of the poor! Why […]

I. When, in the mid-sea of the night, I waken at thy call, O Lord, The first that troop my bark aboard Are darksome imps that hate the light, Whose tongues are arrows, eyes a blight– Of wraths and cares a pirate horde– Though on the mid-sea of the night It was thy call that […]