Poems Every Child Should Know (2 of 81)

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PART I.

The Budding Moment


THE ARROW AND THE SONG.

"The Arrow and the Song," by Longfellow (1807-82), is placed first in
this volume out of respect to a little girl of six years who used to
love to recite it to me. She knew many poems, but this was her
favourite.

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.


THE BABIE.

I found "The Babie" in Stedman's "Anthology." It is placed in this
volume by permission of the poet, Jeremiah Eames Rankin, of Cleveland
(1828-), because it captured the heart of a ten-year-old boy whose
fancy was greatly moved by the two beautiful lines:

"Her face is like an angel's face,
I'm glad she has no wings."


Nae shoon to hide her tiny taes,
Nae stockin' on her feet;
Her supple ankles white as snaw,
Or early blossoms sweet.

Her simple dress o' sprinkled pink,
Her double, dimplit chin,
Her puckered lips, and baumy mou',
With na ane tooth within.

Her een sae like her mither's een,
Twa gentle, liquid things;
Her face is like an angel's face:
We're glad she has nae wings.

JEREMIAH EAMES RANKIN.


LET DOGS DELIGHT TO BARK AND BITE.

"Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite," by Isaac Watts (1674-1748), and "Little Drops of Water," by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1810-97), are poems
that the world cannot outgrow. Once in the mind, they fasten. They were
not born to die.

Let dogs delight to bark and bite,
For God hath made them so;
Let bears and lions growl and fight,
For 'tis their nature too.

But, children, you should never let
Such angry passions rise;
Your little hands were never made
To tear each other's eyes.

ISAAC WATTS.


LITTLE THINGS.

Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.

Thus the little minutes,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.

EBENEZER COBHAM BREWER.


HE PRAYETH BEST.

These two stanzas, the very heart of that great poem, "The Ancient
Mariner," by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), sum up the lesson of
this masterpiece--"Insensibility is a crime."

Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
He prayeth well who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.

He prayeth best who loveth best
All things, both great and small:
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.

SAMUEL T. COLERIDGE.


TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star!
How I wonder what you are,
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the glorious sun is set,
When the grass with dew is wet,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle all the night.

In the dark-blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark
Guides the traveller in the dark,
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star!


PIPPA.

"Spring's at the Morn," from "Pippa Passes," by Robert Browning
(1812-89), has become a very popular stanza with little folks. "All's
right with the world" is a cheerful motto for the nursery and
schoolroom.

The year's at the spring,
The day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew pearled;

The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven--
All's right with the world!

ROBERT BROWNING.


THE DAYS OF THE MONTH.

"The Days of the Month" is a useful bit of doggerel that we need all
through life. It is anonymous.

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
February has twenty-eight alone.
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting leap-year--that's the time
When February's days are twenty-nine.

OLD SONG.

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