When We Were Very Young (6 page)

Down to the wood where the blue-bells grow—

Anywhere, anywhere.
I
don’t know.

The Island

If I had a ship,

I’d sail my ship,

I’d sail my ship

Through Eastern seas;

Down to a beach where the slow waves thunder—

The green curls over and the white falls under—

Boom! Boom! Boom!

On the sun-bright sand.

Then I’d leave my ship and I’d land,

And climb the steep white sand,

And climb to the trees,

The six dark trees,

The coco-nut trees on the cliff’s green crown—

Hands and knees

To the coco-nut trees,

Face to the cliff as the stones patter down,

Up, up, up, staggering, stumbling,

Round the corner where the rock is crumbling

Round this shoulder,

Over this boulder,

Up to the top where the six trees stand….

And there would I rest, and lie,

My chin in my hands, and gaze

At the dazzle of sand below,

And the green waves curling slow,

And the grey-blue distant haze

Where the sea goes up to the sky….

And I’d say to myself as I looked so lazily down at the sea:

“There’s nobody else in the world, and the world was made for me.”

The Three Foxes

Once upon a time there were three little foxes

Who didn’t wear stockings, and they didn’t wear sockses,

But they all had handkerchiefs to blow their noses,

And they kept their handkerchiefs in cardboard boxes.

They lived in the forest in three little houses,

And they didn’t wear coats, and they didn’t wear trousies.

They ran through the woods on their little bare tootsies,

And they played “Touch Last” with a family of mouses.

They didn’t go shopping in the High Street shopses,

But caught what they wanted in the woods and copses.

They all went fishing, and they caught three wormses,

They went out hunting, and they caught three wopses.

They went to a Fair, and they all won prizes—

Three plum-puddingses and three mince-pieses.

They rode on elephants and swang on swingses,

And hit three coco-nuts at coco-nut shieses.

That’s all that I know of the three little foxes

Who kept their handkerchiefs in cardboard boxes.

They lived in the forest in three little houses,

But they didn’t wear coats and they didn’t wear trousies,

And they didn’t wear stockings and they didn’t wear sockses.

Politeness

If people ask me,

I always tell them:

“Quite well, thank you, I’m very glad to say.”

If people ask me,

I always answer,

“Quite well, thank you, how are you today?”

I always answer,

I always tell them,

If they ask me

Politely….

BUT SOMETIMES

I wish

That they wouldn’t.

Jonathan Jo

Jonathan Jo

Has a mouth like an “O”

And a wheelbarrow full of surprises;

If you ask for a bat,

Or for something like that,

He has got it, whatever the size is.

If you’re wanting a ball,

It’s no trouble at all;

Why, the more that you ask for, the merrier—

Like a hoop and a top,

And a watch that won’t stop,

And some sweets, and an Aberdeen terrier.