A Childs Garden of Verses | Page 2

Young Night-Thought

All night long and every night,
When my mama puts out the light,
I
see the people marching by,
As plain as day before my eye.
Armies and emperor and kings,
All carrying different kinds of things,

And marching in so grand a way,
You never saw the like by day.
So fine a show was never seen
At the great circus on the green;
For
every kind of beast and man
Is marching in that caravan.

As first they move a little slow,
But still the faster on they go,
And
still beside me close I keep
Until we reach the town of Sleep.
V
Whole Duty of Children

A child should always say what's true
And speak when he is spoken
to,
And behave mannerly at table;
At least as far as he is able.
V I
Rain

The rain is falling all around,
It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.
VII
Pirate Story

Three of us afloat in the meadow by the swing,
Three of us abroad in the basket on the lea.
Winds are in the air, they
are blowing in the spring,
And waves are on the meadow like the waves there are at sea.
Where shall we adventure, to-day that we're afloat,
Wary of the weather and steering by a star?
Shall it be to Africa,
a-steering of the boat,
To Providence, or Babylon or off to Malabar?
Hi! but here's a squadron a-rowing on the sea--
Cattle on the meadow a-charging with a roar!
Quick, and we'll escape
them, they're as mad as they can be,

The wicket is the harbour and the garden is the shore.
VIII
Foreign Lands

Up into the cherry tree
Who should climb but little me?
I held the
trunk with both my hands
And looked abroad in foreign lands.
I saw the next door garden lie,
Adorned with flowers, before my eye,

And many pleasant places more
That I had never seen before.
I saw the dimpling river pass
And be the sky's blue looking-glass;

The dusty roads go up and down
With people tramping in to town.
If I could find a higher tree
Farther and farther I should see,
To
where the grown-up river slips
Into the sea among the ships,
To where the roads on either hand
Lead onward into fairy land,

Where all the children dine at five,
And all the playthings come alive.
I X