Poems of childhood

Chapter 36: HI-SPY

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About This Book

A collection of short lyrical poems written for and about children, blending playful nonsense, gentle lullabies, and nostalgic reminiscence. Many pieces evoke bedtime and nursery scenes, give voice to toys and animals, or imagine voyages and fairylike adventures, mixing humor with a tender melancholy. Several poems adapt or echo folk-song material, while others are brief narrative or character sketches that vary in meter and mood. Overall the verses create an intimate domestic atmosphere, inviting readers into childlike wonder through simple rhythms, vivid small-scale imagery, and affectionate observation.

HI-SPY

Strange that the city thoroughfare,

Noisy and bustling all the day,

Should with the night renounce its care

And lend itself to children’s play!

Oh, girls are girls, and boys are boys,

And have been so since Abel’s birth,

And shall be so till dolls and toys

Are with the children swept from earth.

The selfsame sport that crowns the day

Of many a Syrian shepherd’s son,

Beguiles the little lads at play

By night in stately Babylon.

I hear their voices in the street,

Yet ’tis so different now from then!

Come, brother! from your winding-sheet,

And let us two be boys again!