When We Were Very Young (9 page)

Hoppity, hoppity, hop.

Whenever I tell him

Politely to stop it, he

Says he can’t possibly stop.

If he stopped hopping,

he couldn’t go anywhere,

Poor little Christopher

Couldn’t go anywhere….

That’s why he
always
goes

Hoppity, hoppity,

Hoppity,

Hoppity,

Hop.

At Home

I want a soldier

(A soldier in a busby),

I want a soldier to come and play with me.

I’d give him cream-cakes

(Big ones, sugar ones),

I’d give him cream-cakes and cream for his tea.

I want a soldier

(A tall one, a red one),

I want a soldier who plays on the drum.

Daddy’s going to get one

(He’s written to the shopman)

Daddy’s going to get one as soon as he can come.

The Wrong House

I went into a house, and it wasn’t a house,

It has big steps and a great big hall;

But it hasn’t got a garden,

A garden,

A garden,

It isn’t like a house at all.

I went into a house, and it wasn’t a house,

It has a big garden and a great high wall;

But it hasn’t got a may-tree,

A may-tree,

A may-tree,

It isn’t like a house at all.

I went into a house and it wasn’t a house—

Slow white petals from the may-tree fall;

But it hasn’t got a blackbird,

A blackbird,

A blackbird,

It isn’t like a house at all.

I went into a house, and I thought it was a house,

I could hear from the may-tree the blackbird call….

But nobody listened to it,

Nobody

Liked it,

Nobody wanted it at all.

Summer Afternoon

Six brown cows walk down to drink

(All the little fishes blew bubbles at the may-fly)
.

Splash goes the first as he comes to the brink,

Swish go the tails of the five who follow….

Twelve brown cows bend drinking there

(All the little fishes went waggle-tail, waggle-tail)—

Six from the water and six from the air;

Up and down the river darts a blue-black swallow.

The Dormouse and the Doctor

There once was a Dormouse who lived in a bed

Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red),

And all the day long he’d a wonderful view

Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue).

A Doctor came hurrying round, and he said:

“Tut-tut, I am sorry to find you in bed.

Just say ‘Ninety-nine,’ while I look at your chest….

Don’t you find that chrysanthemums answer the best?”

The Dormouse looked round at the view and replied

(When he’d said “Ninety-nine”) that he’d tried and he’d tried,

And much the most answering things that he knew

Were geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue).

The Doctor stood frowning and shaking his head,

And he took up his shiny silk hat as he said: