Once again, the mind returns to poems learned in early childhood - and so, for summer:At the Sea-side
When I was down beside the sea
A wooden spade they gave to me
To dig the sandy shore.
My holes were empty like a cup.
In every hole the sea came up,
Till it could come no more.
Bed in Summer
IN winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people’s feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
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,
Rivers 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!
3 comments:
Great choices for today. The words are so familiar to me that sometime in my past, I think must have heard them repeatedly. I assume it was at school, because I never owned a book of poetry when I was little. Isn't that sad?
RLS is a childhood favorite. I can still see my Golden Book version . . . no longer in my possession, but apparently still available from Amazon.
Good offering for today, Sally.
And, Diane, you're more than making up for your lack of poetry as a child . . .
J
Thanks so much for including The Swing! My third grade teacher, Sister Jeanne, made us memorize poetry and The Swing was one of them. I can still hear us chanting it in our nine-year-old voices, the speed picking up towards the end because we loved the rhythm!
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