A Child's Garden of Verses

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Longmans, Green, 1885 - Children's poetry - 101 pages

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Page 3 - 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 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...
Page 29 - I saw the different things you did, But always you yourself you hid. I felt you push, I heard you call, I could not see yourself at all — O wind, a-blowing all day long, O wind, that sings so loud a song...
Page 22 - ... slow; For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India-rubber ball, And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all. He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play, And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way. He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see; I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me! One morning, very early, before the sun was up, I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup; But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant...
Page 13 - 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...
Page 55 - When children are playing alone on the green, In comes the playmate that never was seen. When children are happy and lonely and good, The Friend of the Children comes out of the wood. Nobody heard him and nobody saw, His is a picture you never could draw, But he's sure to be present, abroad or at home, When children are happy and playing alone.
Page 10 - 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 TIP into the cherry tree Who should climb but little me ? I held the trunk with both my hands And looked abroad on foreign lands.
Page 27 - THE friendly cow all red and white, I love with all my heart : She gives me cream with all her might, To eat with apple-tart.
Page 8 - RAIN THE rain is raining all around, It falls on field and tree, It rains on the umbrellas here, And on the ships at sea.
Page 11 - 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.
Page 22 - MY SHADOW I HAVE a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed. The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow — Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow; For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball, And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

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