Poems By a Little Girl | Page 6

She probably hardly thought
at all, so natural was it, to say
that three pinks
"smell like more of them in a blue vase," but the

expression fills the air with so strong a scent that

no superlative could
increase it.

"Gift" is a lovely poem, it has feeling,
expression, originality,
cadence. If a child can write
such a poem at eight years old, what
does it mean?
That depends, I think, on how long the instructors
of
youth can be persuaded to keep "hands off."
A period of imitation is,
I fear, inevitable, but if
consciousness is not induced by direct
criticism, if
instruction in the art of writing is abjured, the
imitative
period will probably be got through
without undue loss. I think there
is too much
native sense of beauty and proportion here to be

entirely killed even by the drying and freezing
process which goes by
the name of education.
What this book chiefly shows is high promise;
but it also has its
pages of real achievement, and
that of so high an order it may well set
us pondering.
AMY LOWELL.
CONTENTS
FOUR TO FIVE YEARS OLD
FIRST SONGS
FIVE TO SIX YEARS OLD
GARDEN OF THE WORLD
THEATRE-SONG
VELVETS

TWO SONGS
MOON SONG
SUNSET
MOUSE
SHORT
STORY
BY LAKE CHAMPLAIN
SPRING SONG
WATER

SHADY BRONN
CHICKADEE
THE CHAMPLAIN
SANDMAN
ROSE-MOSS
ABOUT MY DREAMS
SIX TO SEVEN YEARS OLD
AUTUMN SONG
THE DREAM
BUTTERFLY
EVENING

THUNDER SHOWER
RED CROSS SONG
PURPLE ASTERS

SONG FOR A PLAY

PEACOCK FEATHERS
RED

ROOSTER
TREE-TOAD
SEVEN TO NINE YEARS OLD
THE LONESOME WAVE
RED-CAP MOSS
RAMBLER
ROSE
GIFT
THE WHITE CLOUD
MOON THOUGHT

THE OLD BRIDGE
FERNS
LAND OF NOD
SUN
FLOWERS
HOLLAND SONG
FOUNTAIN-TALK

POPLARS
THE TOWER AND THE FALCON
THOUGHTS

POEM-SKETCH IN THREE PARTS
THE DEW-LIGHT

YELLOW SUMMER THROAT
PEGASUS
VENICE BRIDGE

NIGHT GOES RUSHING BY
DANDELION
IF I COULD
TELL YOU THE WAY
ROSE-PETAL
POEMS
SEAGARDE

EASTER
BLUEBIRD
GEOGRAPHY
MARCH
THOUGHT
MORNING
SONG
SNOWFLAKE SONG

SNOWSTORM
POPPY
BUTTERFLY
CLOUDS

NARCISSUS
LITTLE SNAIL
CHERRIES ARE RIPE
A
THING FORGOTTEN
LITTLE PAPOOSE
FAIRIES AGAIN

OH, MY HAZEL-EYED MOTHER
THE GREEN PALM
TREE

TREASURE
TWO PICTURES
TELL ME

SILVERHORN
SPARKLING DROP OF WATER

HAY-COCK
ONLY MORNING-GLORY THAT FLOWERED

WEATHER
SUMMER-DAY SONG
PINK ROSE-PETALS

THE LONESOME GREEN APPLE
I AM
MUSHROOM
SONG
THE APPLE-JELLY-FISH-TREE
THREE LOVES

THE FIELD OF WONDER
MOON DOVES
I WENT TO SEA

THREE THOUGHTS OF MY HEART
SNOW-CAPPED
MOUNTAIN
THE BROOK AND ITS CHILDREN
BIRD OF
PARADISE
SHINY BROOK
HILLS
ADVENTURE

FAIRIES
HUMMING-BIRD
BLUE GRASS
ENVOY
FOUR TO FIVE YEARS OLD
FIRST SONGS

I
Rosy plum-tree, think of me
When Spring comes down the world!
II
There's dozens full of dandelions
Down in the field:
Little gold
plates,
Little gold dishes in the grass.
I cannot count them,
But the
fairies know every one.
III
Oh wrinkling star, wrinkling up so wise,
When you go to sleep
do you shut your eyes?
IV
The red moon comes out in the night.
When I'm asleep, the
moon comes pattering up
Into the trees.
Then I peep out my
window
To watch the moon go by.
V
Sparkle up, little tired flower
Leaning in the grass!
Did you
find the rain of night
Too heavy to hold?
VI
The garden is full of flowers
All dancing round and round.
John-flowers,
Mary-flowers,
Polly-flowers,
Cauli-flowers,
They
dance round and round
And they bow down and down
To a
black-eyed daisy.
VII
There is going to be the sound of bells
And murmuring.
This
is the brook dance:
There is going to be sound of voices,
And the
smallest will be the brook:
It is the song of water
You will hear,
A
little winding song
To dance to . . .
VIII
Blossoms in the growing tree,
Why don't you speak to me?
I
want to grow like you,
Smiling . . . smiling . . .
IX
If I find a moon,
I will sing a moon-song.
If I find a flower,
What
song shall I sing,
Rose-song or clover-song?
X
The blossoms will be gone in the winter:
Oh apples, come for the

June!
Can you come, will you bloom?
Will you stay till the cold?
XI
I will sing you a song,
Sweets-of-my-heart,
With love in it,

(How I love you!)
And a rose to swing in the wind,
The wind that
swings roses!
XII
Will you love me to-morrow after next,
As if I had a bird's way
of singing?
FIVE TO SIX YEARS OLD
GARDEN OF THE WORLD
The butterfly swings over the violet
That stands by the water,
In the
garden that sings
All day.
The sun goes up in the dawn,
The water
waves softly.
In the trees are little breezes,
In the garden trees.

Blue hills and blue waters I
The big blue ocean lies around in the sun

Watching his waves toss . . .
THEATRE-SONG
Eagles were flying over the sky
And mermaids danced in the gold
waters.
Eagles were calling over the sky
And the water was the
color of blue flowers.
Sunshine was 'flected in the waves
Like
meadows of white buds.
This is what I saw
On a morning long
ago . . .
VELVETS
By a Bed of Pansies
This pansy has a thinking face
Like the yellow moon.
This one has
a face with white blots:
I call him the clown.
Here goes one down
the grass
With a pretty look of plumpness;
She is a little girl going
to school
With her hands in the pockets of her pinafore.
Her name
is Sue.
I like this one, in a bonnet,
Waiting,

Her eyes are so deep!
But these on the other side,
These that wear
purple and blue,
They are the Velvets,
The king with his cloak,

The queen with her gown,
The prince with his feather.
These are
dark and quiet
And stay alone.
I know you, Velvets,
Color of Dark,
Like the pine-tree on the hill

When stars shine!
TWO SONGS
After Hearing the Wagner Story-book
The birds came to tell Siegfried a story,
A story of the