Friday, April 28, 2006

Poetry Friday

In elementary school I loved Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses.

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.

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 sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed


Founder Big A little a; other Poetry Friday offerings at Farm School; Book Buds; The Simple and the Ordinary; Chicken Spaghetti; Jen Robinson; and Scholar's Blog.

If I didn't see yours, please just leave me a note and I'll update the participant list.

Updated to add: Little Willow.

And Blog From the Windowsill.

5 comments:

christine M said...

I've always loved this poem. I have the Child's Garden of Verses illustrated by Eloise Wilkens - what beautiful pictures.

Anonymous said...

I love that book, too, Liz. Have a great weekend!

Kelly said...

Oh! I really love this one too, Liz. Great choice.

Little Willow said...

http://slayground.livejournal.com/77139.html

web said...

[waves hand wildly] Me! Me!