Robert Louis Stevenson

A Child's Garden of Verses Robert Louis Stevenson

In winter I get up at nightAnd 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 seeThe birds still hopping on the tree, Or hear the grown-up people's feetStill 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?MaryHansA THOUGHTIt is very nice to thinkThe world is full of meat and drink, With little children saying graceIn every Christian kind of place. BiddyFifineBED IN SUMMERAT THE SEA-SIDEWhen I was down beside the seaA wooden spade they gave to meTo dig the sandy shore. My holes were empty like a cup. In every hole the sea came up, Till it could come no more. YOUNG NIGHT-THOUGHTAll night long and every night, When my mama puts out the light, I see the people marching by, As plain as day, before my eye. Armies and emperors and kings, All carrying different kinds of things, And marching in so grand a way, You never saw the like by day. So fine a show was never seenAt the great circus on the green; For every kind of beast and manIs marching in that caravan. At first they move a little slow, But still the faster on they go, And still beside them close I keepUntil we reach the town of Sleep. WHOLE DUTY OF CHILDRENA child should always say what's trueAnd speak when he is spoken to, And behave mannerly at table; At least as fa