Favorite Poems

Life with Barbara

CHARTLESS
I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.
I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given.
EMILY DICKINSON (1830-1886)

YOUNG AND OLD
When all the world is young,lad,
And all the trees are green;
And every goose a swan lad,
And every lass a queen;
Then hey for boot and horse lad,
And round the world away;
Young blood must have its course,lad,
And every dog his day.
When all the world is old,lad,
And all the trees are brown;
And all the sport is stale,lad,
And all the wheels run down;
Creep home,and take your place there,
The spent and maimed among;
God grant you find one face there
You loved when you was young.
CHARLES KINGSLEY (1819-1875)

SOMEBODY'S DARLING
Into a ward of the whitewashed halls,
Where the dead and dying lay,
Wounded by bayonets,shells,and balls,
Somebody's darling was born one day;
Somebody's darling,so young and brave,
Wearing yet on hispale,sweet face,
Soon to be hid by the dust of the grave,
The lingering light of his boyhood's grace.
Matted and damp are the curls of gold,
Kissing the snow of that fair young brow;
Pale are the lips of delicate mold-
Somebody's darling is dying now.
Back from his beautiful blue-veined brow,
Brush all the wandering waves of gold;
Cross his hands on his bosom now;
Somebody's darling is still and cold.
Kiss him once for somebody's sake,
Murmur a prayer soft and low;
One bright curl from its fair mates take;
They were somebody's pride, you know;
Somebody's hand has rested there;
Was it a mother's soft and white?
And have the lips of a sister fair
Been baptized in the waves of light?
God knows best!he was somebody's love:
Somebody's heart enshrined him there;
Somebody wafted his name above,
Night and morn,on the wings of a prayer.
Somebody wept when he marched away,
Looking so handsome,brave,and grand;
Somebody'skiss on his forehead lay;
Somebody clung to his parting hand.
Somebody's watching and waiting for him,
Yearning to hold him again to her heart;
And there he lies,with his blue eyes dim,
And the smiling,child-like lips apart.
Tenderly bury the fair young dead,
Pausing to drop on his grave a tear;
Carve on the wooden slab at his head,
"Somebody's darling slumbers here."
MARIE RAVENAL DE LACOSTE

Simple Simon met a pieman,
Going to the fair;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
Let me taste your ware.
Says the pieman to Simple Simon,
Show me first your penny;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman
Indeed I have not any.
Simple Simon went a- fishin,
For to catch a whale,
All the water he had got
Was in his mother's pail.
Simple Simon went to look,
If plums grew on a thistle;
He prickrd his fingers very much,
Which made poor Simon whistle,
He went for water in a sieve
But soon it all fell through.
And now poor Simple Simon,
Bids you all Adieu.

SONG OF SIXPENCE
Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds,
Baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened,
The birds began to sing;
Was that not a dainty dish,
To set before the king.
The king was in his counting house,
Counting out his money.;
The queen was in the parlour,
Eating bread and honey.
The maid was in the garden,
Haniging out the clothes,
There came a blackbird ,
And snapped off her nose

Mary,Mary,quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

      HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE
       Hey diddle,diddle,
      The cat and the fiddle,
      The cow jumped over the moon,
      The little dog laughed,
      To see such sport,
     And the dish ran away with the spoon.

      ONCE I SAW A LITTLE BIRD
          Once I saw a little bird,
          Come hop,hop,hop,
          And I cried Little bird,
          Will you stop,stop,stop?
          I was going to the window,
          To say how do you do?
          But he shook his tail,
          And away he flew.

THE COCK CROWS IN THE MORN
     The cock crows in the morn,
      To tell us to rise,
      And he that lies late
      Will never be wise;
      For early to bed,
      And early to rise,
       Is the way to be healthy
      Wealthy and wise.

Not every truth is the better for showing its face undisguised; and often silence is the wisest thing for a man to heed.~ Pindar