A Child's Garden Of Verses Docket Files V ~ Garden Days

I thought upon my little self in why direction should it kill,

the worth of word in pretty bell a tongue in swing is hanging,

found the said was indeed of Read a book of Tale on the Sail,

in the Mast a birds nest write to Teach the bark that Seals Part.

The Dumb Soldier

When the grass was closely mown,

    Walking on the lawn alone,

In the turf a hole I found

And hid a soldier underground.

Spring and daises came apace;

Grasses hide my hiding place;

Grasses run like a green sea

O'er the lawn up to my knee.

Under grass alone he lies,

Looking up with leaden eyes,

Scarlet coat and pointed gun,

To the stars and to the sun.

When the grass is rip like grain

When the scythe is stoned again,

When the lawn is shaven clear,

Then my hole shall reappear.

I shall find him, never fear,

I shall find my grenadier;

But for all that's gone and come,

I shall find my soldier dumb.

He has lived, a little thing,

In the grassy woods of spring;

Done, if he could tell me true,

Just as I should like to do.

He has seen the starry hours

And the springing of the flowers;

And the fairy things that pass

In the forests of the grass.

In the silence he has heard

Talking bee and ladybird,

And the butterfly has flown

O'er him as he lay alone.

Not a word will he disclose,

Not a word of all he knows,

I must lay him on the shelf,

And make up the tale myself.

{Constitutions}