I
The Unseen Playmate When children are playing alone on the green,In comes the playmate that never was seen.
When children are happy and lonely and good,The Friend of the Children comes out of the wood.
Nobody heard him,and nobody saw,His is a picture you never could draw,But he's sure to be present,abroad or at home,When children are happy and playing alone.
He lies in the laurels,he runs on the grass,He sings when you tinkle the musical glass;
Whene'er you are happy and cannot tell why,The Friend of the Children is sure to be by!
He loves to be little,he hates to be big,'Tis he that inhabits the caves that you dig;
'Tis he when you play with your soldiers of tin That sides with the Frenchmen and never can win.
'Tis he,when at night you go off to your bed,Bids you go to sleep and not trouble your head;
For wherever they're lying,in cupboard or shelf,'Tis he will take care of your playthings himself!
II
My Ship and I
Oit's Ithat am the captain of a tidy little ship,Of a ship that goes a sailing on the pond;
And my ship it keeps a-turning all around and all about;
But when I'm a little older,Ishall find the secret out How to send my vessel sailing on beyond.
For Imean to grow a little as the dolly at the helm,And the dolly Iintend to come alive;
And with him beside to help me,it's a-sailing Ishall go,It's a-sailing on the water,when the jolly breezes blow And the vessel goes a dive-dive-dive.
Oit's then you'll see me sailing through the rushes and the reeds,And you'll hear the water singing at the prow;
For beside the dolly sailor,I'm to voyage and explore,To land upon the island where no dolly was before,And to fire the penny cannon in the bow.
III
My Kingdom Down by a shining water well Ifound a very little dell,No higher than my head.
The heather and the gorse about In summer bloom were coming out,Some yellow and some red.
Icalled the little pool a sea;
The little hills were big to me;
For Iam very small.
Imade a boat,Imade a town,Isearched the caverns up and down,And named them one and all.
And all about was mine,Isaid,The little sparrows overhead,The little minnows too.
This was the world and Iwas king;
For me the bees came by to sing,For me the swallows flew.
Iplayed there were no deeper seas,Nor any wider plains than these,Nor other kings than me.
At last Iheard my mother call Out from the house at evenfall,To call me home to tea.
And Imust rise and leave my dell,And leave my dimpled water well,And leave my heather blooms.
Alas!and as my home Ineared,How very big my nurse appeared.
How great and cool the rooms!
IV
Picture-books in Winter Summer fading,winter comes——
Frosty mornings,tingling thumbs,Window robins,winter rooks,And the picture story-books.
Water now is turned to stone Nurse and Ican walk upon;
Still we find the flowing brooks In the picture story-books.
All the pretty things put by,Wait upon the children's eye,Sheep and shepherds,trees and crooks,In the picture story-books.
We may see how all things are Seas and cities,near and far,And the flying fairies'looks,In the picture story-books.
How am Ito sing your praise,Happy chimney-corner days,Sitting safe in nursery nooks,Reading picture story-books?
V
My Treasures These nuts,that Ikeep in the back of the nest,Where all my tin soldiers are lying at rest,Were gathered in Autumn by nursie and me In a wood with a well by the side of the sea.
This whistle we made (and how clearly it sounds!)
By the side of a field at the end of the grounds.
Of a branch of a plane,with a knife of my own,It was nursie who made it,and nursie alone!
The stone,with the white and the yellow and grey,We discovered Icannot tell HOWfar away;
And Icarried it back although weary and cold,For though father denies it,I'm sure it is gold.
But of all my treasures the last is the king,For there's very few children possess such a thing;
And that is a chisel,both handle and blade,Which a man who was really a carpenter made.
