Kitten's Night Thoughts

 Kitten's Night Thoughts
Oliver Hereford

When Human Folk put out the light
And think they've made it dark as night,
A Pussy Cat sees every bit
As well as when the lights are lit.

When Human Folk have gone upstairs
And shed their skins and said their prayers,
And there is no one to annoy,
Then Pussy may her life enjoy.

No human hands to pinch or slap,
Or rub her fur against the nap,
Or throw cold water from a pail,
Or make a handle of her tail.

And so you will not think it wrong,
When she can play the whole night long,
With no one to disturb her play,
That Pussy goes to bed by day.  

Politely

Politely
Diane Willson

When Goldilocks went calling
On the Little Baby Bear
And spoiled his bowl of porridge
And sat holes into his chair-
I hope she hurried home again
For others nice and new
And took them back politely
To the Baby Bear. Don't you?
 

The Sweetstuff Wife

The Sweetstuff Wife
Eleanor Farjeon

The Sweetstuff Wife in the queer little shop
Has four little windowpanes
With bottles of bulls-eye and lollipop,
Peardrop, lemon drop, chocolate drop,
Boxes of small tin trains,
Comfits of every color too,
With mottos on them, like "I Love You"
And "Do You Love Me?" "Be Kind," "Be
True,
And horses with fluffy manes,
And sawdust dollies with china heads,
And painted tea-sets, and tiny beds,
And balls with quarters of blues and reds,
And butterfly aeroplanes,
And sugar biscuits, and sweet cigars,
And ninepins, and wind-up motor-cars,
And masks and crackers and silver stars
And paper flowers and chains. 

Chickadee

 Chickadee
Hilda Conkling
(Written at the age of six)

The chickadee in the apple tree
Talks all the time very gently.
He makes me sleepy.
I rock away to the sea-lights.
Far off I hear him talking
The way smooth bright pebbles
Drop into water . . .
Chicka'dee-dee-dee . . .

"Down in the Hollow" and Ladybug Hand Craft

Ladybugs shaped using either handprints or hand tracing. Cut out the hands,
 add black spots, antenna, eyeballs and heads.

  

 Down in the Hollow
Aileen Fisher

Down in the hollow,
Not so far away,
I saw a little ladybug
When I went to play,

Swinging on the clover
Up in the air . . .
I wonder if the ladybug
Knew I was there.

Two of Each Were All Aboard Noah's Ark!

Circus

Circus
Eleanor Farjeon

The brass band blares,
The naphtha flares,
The sawdust smells,
Showmen ring bells,
And oh! right into the circus-ring
Comes such a lovely, lovely thing,
A milk-white pony with flying tress,
And a beautiful lady,
A beautiful lady,
A beautiful lady in a pink dress!
The red-and-white clown
For joy tumbles down.
Like a pink rose
Round she goes
On her tiptoes
With the pony under-
And then, oh, wonder!
The pony his milk-white tresses droops,
And the beautiful lady,
The beautiful lady,
Flies like a bird through the paper hoops!
The red-and-white clown for joy falls dead,
Then he waggles his feet and stands on his
head,
And the little boys on the twopenny seats
Scream with laughter and suck their sweets.

The Cricket

The Cricket
Marjorie Barrows

And when the rain had gone away
And it was shining everywhere,
I ran out on the walk to play
And found a little bug was there.

And he was running just as fast
As any little bug could run,
Until he stopped for breath at last,
All black and shiny in the sun.

And then he chirped a song to me
And gave his wings a little tug,
And that's the way he showed that he
Was very glad to be a bug!

Song for a Little House

Song for a Little House
Christopher Morley

I'm glad our house is a little house,
Not too tall nor too wide:
I'm glad the hovering butterflies
Feel free to come inside.

Our little house is a friendly house,
It is not shy or vain;
It gossips with the talking trees
And makes friends with the rain.

And quick leaves cast a shimmer of green
Against our whited walls,
And in the phlox, the courteous bees
Are paying duty calls.

The Secret Cavern

 The Secret Cavern
Margaret Widdemer

Underneath the boardwalk, way, way back,
There's a splendid cavern, big and black-
If you want to get there, you must crawl
Underneath the posts and steps and all
When I've finished paddling, there I go-
None of all the other children know!

There I keep my treasures in a box-
Shells and colored glass and queer 'shaped rocks,
In a secret hiding-place I've made,
Hollowed out with clam shells and a spade,
Marked with yellow pebbles in a row-
None of all the other children know!

It's a place that makes a splendid lair,
Room for chests and weapons and one chair.
In the farthest corner, by the stones,
I shall have a flag with skulls and bones
And a lamp that casts a lurid glow-
None of all the other children know!

Some time, by and by, when I am grown,
I shall go and live there all alone;
I shall dig and paddle till it's dark,
Then go out and man my pirate bark:
I shall fill my cave with captive foe-
None of all the other children know!

The Little Rose Tree

The Little Rose Tree
Rachel Field

Every rose on the little tree
Is making a different face at me!
Some look surprised when I pass by,
And others droop - but they are shy.
These two whose heads together press
Tell secrets I could never guess.
Some have their heads thrown back to sing,
And all the buds are listening.
I wonder if the gardener knows,
Or if he calls each just a rose?

The Family Dragon

 The Family Dragon
(With acknowledgments to Kenneth Grahame)
Margaret Widdemer

Last night there walked across our lawn a
beast we didn't know-
We saw his little footprints marked quite
plainly in the snow.
It might have been an ocelot, or perhaps a
grizzly bear-
We hoped it was a dragon, come out walk-
ing from its lair;
We didn't want a grown-up one, all fire and
scales and foam,
But just a baby dragonlet that we could carry
home;
We'd keep him in the nursery and give him
a nice name,
And have him for a fam'ly pet, with ribbons
on, quite tame.
We tracked him down the meadow path
and all along the hedge
And there his little footprints stopped close
up beneath the edge,
For there the snow had gone away - there
wasn't any track-
And it was tea-time anyway, so both of us
went back.
But we shall go some day quite soon and find
him in his lair,
And capture him while he's asleep, and tie
him up with care,
And we will have the 'spressman come and
put him in his wagon
And bring him home to stay with us and be
our family dragon!

Sea Shell

 Sea Shell
Amy Lowell

Sea Shell, Sea Shell,
Sing me a song, O please!
A song of ships, and sailor men,
And parrots, and tropical trees,
Of islands lost in the Spanish Main
Which no man ever may find again,
Of fishes and corals under the waves,
And sea'horses stabled in great green caves.
Sea Shell, Sea Shell,
Sing of the things you know so well.