A Childs Garden of Verses | Page 3

Windy Nights

Whenever the moon and stars are set,
Whenever the wind is high,
All night long in the dark and wet,
A man goes riding by.
Late in the night when the fires are out,
Why
does he gallop and gallop about?
Whenever the trees are crying aloud,
And ships are tossed at sea,
By, on the highway, low and loud,
By at the gallop goes he.
By at the gallop he goes, and then
By he
comes back at the gallop again.
X

Travel

I should like to rise and go
Where the golden apples grow;--
Where
below another sky
Parrot islands anchored lie,
And, watched by
cockatoos and goats,
Lonely Crusoes building boats;--
Where in
sunshine reaching out
Eastern cities, miles about,
Are with mosque
and minaret
Among sandy gardens set,
And the rich goods from
near and far
Hang for sale in the bazaar;--
Where the Great Wall
round China goes,
And on one side the desert blows,
And with the
voice and bell and drum,
Cities on the other hum;--
Where are
forests hot as fire,
Wide as England, tall as a spire,
Full of apes and
cocoa-nuts
And the negro hunters' huts;--
Where the knotty
crocodile
Lies and blinks in the Nile,
And the red flamingo flies

Hunting fish before his eyes;--
Where in jungles near and far,

Man-devouring tigers are,
Lying close and giving ear
Lest the hunt
be drawing near,
Or a comer-by be seen
Swinging in the
palanquin;--
Where among the desert sands
Some deserted city
stands,
All its children, sweep and prince,
Grown to manhood ages
since,
Not a foot in street or house,
Not a stir of child or mouse,

And when kindly falls the night,
In all the town no spark of light.

There I'll come when I'm a man
With a camel caravan;
Light a fire
in the gloom
Of some dusty dining room;

See the pictures on the
walls,
Heroes, fights and festivals;
And in a corner find the toys

Of the old Egyptian boys.
X I
Singing

Of speckled eggs the birdie sings
And nests among the trees;
The sailor sings of ropes and things
In ships upon the seas.
The children sing in far Japan,

The children sing in Spain;
The organ with the organ man
Is singing in the rain.
XII
Looking Forward

When I am grown to man's estate
I shall be very proud and great,

And tell the other girls and boys
Not to meddle with my toys.
XIII
A Good Play

We built a ship upon the stairs
All made of the back-bedroom chairs,

And filled it full of sofa pillows
To go a-sailing on the billows.
We took a saw and several nails,
And water in the nursery pails;

And Tom said, "Let us also take
An apple and a slice of cake;"--

Which was enough for Tom and me
To go a-sailing on, till tea.
We sailed along for days and days,
And had the very best of plays;

But Tom fell out and hurt his knee,
So there was no one left but me.
XIV