A Childs Garden of Verses | Page 8

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue??Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,?River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside--
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown--?Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
XXXIV
Time to Rise

A birdie with a yellow bill?Hopped upon my window sill,?Cocked his shining eye and said:?"Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head!"
XXXV
Looking-Glass River

Smooth it glides upon its travel,
Here a wimple, there a gleam--
O the clean gravel!?O the smooth stream!
Sailing blossoms, silver fishes,
Paven pools as clear as air--
How a child wishes?To live down there!
We can see our colored faces
Floating on the shaken pool
Down in cool places,?Dim and very cool;
Till a wind or water wrinkle,
Dipping marten, plumping trout,
Spreads in a twinkle?And blots all out.
See the rings pursue each other;
All below grows black as night,
Just as if mother?Had blown out the light!
Patience, children, just a minute--
See the spreading circles die;
The stream and all in it?Will clear by-and-by.
XXXVI
Fairy Bread

Come up here, O dusty feet!
Here is fairy bread to eat.?Here in my retiring room,?Children, you may dine?On the golden smell of broom
And the shade of pine;?And when you have eaten well,?Fairy stories hear and tell.
XXXVII
From a Railway Carriage

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,?Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;?And charging along like troops in a battle?All through the meadows the horses and cattle:?All of the sights of the hill and the plain?Fly as thick as driving rain;?And ever again, in the wink of an eye,?Painted stations whistle by.
Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,?All by himself and gathering brambles;?Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;?And here is the green for stringing the daisies!?Here is a cart run away in the road?Lumping along with man and load;?And here is a mill, and there is a river:?Each a glimpse and gone forever!
XXXVIII
Winter-Time

Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,?A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;?Blinks but an hour or two; and then,?A blood-red orange, sets again.
Before the stars have left the skies,?At morning in the dark I rise;?And shivering in my nakedness,?By the cold candle, bathe and dress.
Close by the jolly fire I sit?To warm my frozen bones a bit;?Or with a reindeer-sled, explore?The colder countries round the door.
When to go out, my nurse doth wrap?Me in my comforter and cap;?The cold wind burns