Peacock Pie, A Book of Rhymes | Page 4

Ever?
SONGS
The Song of the Secret
The Song of Soldiers
The Bees' Song
A
Song of Enchantment
Dream-Song
The Song of Shadows
The
Song of the Mad prince
The Song of Finis
THE HORSEMAN
I heard a horseman
Ride over the hill;
The moon shone clear,
The night was still;
His
helm was silver,
And pale was he;
And the horse he rode
Was of ivory.
UP AND DOWN
Down the Hill of Ludgate,
Up the Hill of Fleet,
To and fro and East and West
With people flows the street;
Even the King of England
On Temple Bar must beat
For leave to ride to Ludgate
Down the Hill of Fleet.

MRS. EARTH
Mrs. Earth makes silver black,
Mrs. Earth makes iron red
But Mrs. Earth can not stain gold,
Nor ruby red.
Mrs. earth the slenderest bone
Whitens in her bosom cold,
But Mrs. Earth can change my dreams
No more than ruby or gold.
Mrs. Earth and Mr. Sun
Can tan my skin, and tire my toes,
But all that I'm thinking of, ever
shall think,
Why, either knows.
ALAS, ALACK!
Ann, Ann!
Come! Quick as you can!
There's a fish that talks
In the frying-pan.
Out of the fat,
As clear as glass,
He put up his mouth
And moaned 'Alas!'
Oh, most mournful,
'Alas, alack!'
Then turned to his sizzling,
And sank him back.
TIRED TIM
Poor Tired Tim! It's sad for him.
He lags the long bright morning
through,
Ever so tired of nothing to do;
He moons and mopes the
livelong day,
Nothing to think about, nothing to say;
Up to bed with

his candle to creep,
Too tired to yawn, too tired to sleep:
Poor Tired
Tim! It's sad for him.
MIMA
Jemima is my name,
But oh, I have another;
My father always calls me Meg,
And so do Bob and mother;
Only my sister, jealous of
The strands of my bright hair,
'Jemima - Mima - Mima!'
Calls, mocking, up the stair.
THE HUNTSMEN
Three jolly gentlemen,
In coats of red,
Rode their horses
Up to bed.
Three jolly gentlemen
Snored till morn,
Their horses champing
The golden corn.
Three jolly gentlemen,
At break of day,
Came clitter-clatter down the stairs
And galloped
away.
THE BANDOG
Has anybody seen my Mopser? --

A comely dog is he,
With hair of the colour of a Charles the Fifth,
And teeth like ships at sea,
His tail it curls straight upwards,
His ears stand two abreast,
And he answers to the simple name of
Mopser
When civilly addressed.
I CAN'T ABEAR
I can't abear a Butcher,
I can't abide his meat,
The ugliest shop of all is his,
The ugliest in the street;
Bakers' are warm, cobblers' dark,
Chemists' burn watery lights;
But oh, the sawdust butcher's shop,
That ugliest of sights!
THE DUNCE
Why does he still keep ticking?
Why does his round white face
Stare at me over the books and ink,
And mock at my disgrace?
Why does that thrush call, 'Dunce, dunce,
dunce!'?
Why does that bluebottle buzz?
Why does the sun so silent shine? --
And what do I care if it does?
CHICKEN
Clapping her platter stood plump Bess,

And all across the green
Came scampering in, on wing and claw,
Chicken fat and lean:
Dorking, Spaniard, Cochin China,
Bantams sleek and small,
Like feathers blown in a great wind,
They came at Bessie's call.
SOME ONE
Some one came knocking
At my wee, small door;
Some one came knocking,
I'm sure - sure - sure;
I listened, I opened,
I looked to left and right,
But naught there was a-stirring
In the still dark night;
Only the busy beetle
Tap-tapping in the wall,
Only from the forest
The screech-owl's call,
Only the cricket whistling
While the dewdrops fall,
So I know not who came knocking,
At all,
at all, at all.
BREAD AND CHERRIES
'Cherries, ripe cherries!'
The old woman cried,
In her snowy white apron,
And basket beside;
And the little boys came,
Eyes shining, cheeks red,
To buy a bag of cherries,
To eat with their
bread.

OLD SHELLOVER
'Come!' said Old Shellover.
'What?' says Creep.
'The horny old
Gardener's fast asleep;
The fat cock Thrush
To his nest has gone;

And the dew shines bright
In the rising Moon;
Old Sallie Worm
from her hole doth peep:
Come!' said Old Shellover.
'Aye!' said
Creep.
HAPLESS
Hapless, hapless, I must be
All the hours of life I see,
Since my
foolish nurse did once
Bed me on her leggen bones;
Since my
mother did not weel
To snip my nails with blades of steel.
Had they
laid me on a pillow
In a cot of water willow,
Had they bitten finger
and thumb,
Not to such ill hap I had come.
THE LITTLE BIRD
My dear Daddie bought a mansion
For to bring my Mammie to,
In a hat with a long feather,
And a trailing gown of blue;
And a company of fiddlers
And a rout of maids and men
Danced the clock round to the morning,
In a gay house-warming then.
And when all the guests were gone,
and
All was still as still can be,
In from the dark ivy hopped a
Wee small bird: and that was Me.
CAKE AND SACK
Old King Caraway

Supped on cake,
And a cup