Good Night and Good Morning

~Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton

A fair little girl sat under a tree,

Sewing as long as her eyes could see;

Then smoothed her work, and folded it right,

And said, "Dear work, good night! good night!"

Such a number of rooks came over her head,

Crying, "Caw! Caw!" on their way to bed;

She said, as she watched their curious flight,

"Little black things, good night! good night!"

The horses neighed, and the oxen lowed,

The sheep's "Bleat! bleat!" came over the road;

All seeming to say, with a quiet delight,

"Good little girl, good night! good night!"

She did not say to the sun, "Good night!"

Though she saw him there like a ball of light,

For she knew he had God's time to keep

All over the world, and never could sleep.

The tall pink foxglove bowed his head,

The violets curtsied and went to bed;

And good little Lucy tied up her hair,

And said on her knees her favourite prayer.

And while on her pillow she softly lay,

She knew nothing more till again it was day;

And all things said to the beautiful sun,

"Good morning! good morning! our work is begun!

The Story of Johnny Head-in-the-Air

~Heinrich Hoffman

As he trudged along to school,

It was always Johnny's rule

To be looking at the sky

And the clouds that floated by;

But what just before him lay,

In his way,

Johnny never thought about;

So that everyone cried out,

"Look at little Johnny there,

Little Johnny Head-in-Air!"

Running just in Johnny's way

Came a little dog one day;

Johnny's eyes were still astray

Up on high,

In the sky;

And he never heard them cry

"Johnny, mind, the dog is nigh!"

Bump!

Dump!

Down they fell, with such a thump,

Dog and Johnny in a lump!

Once, with head as high as ever,

Johnny walked beside the river.

Johnny watched the swallows trying

Which was cleverest at flying.

Oh! what fun!

Johnny watched the bright round sun

Going in and coming out;

This was all he thought about.

So he strode on, only think!

To the river's very brink,

Where the bank was and steep,

And the water very deep;

And the fishes, in a row,

Stared to see him coming so.

One step more! oh! sad to tell!

Headlong in poor Johnny fell.

And the fishes, in dismay,

Wagged their tails and swam away.

There lay Johnny on his face,

With his nice red writing-case;

But, as they were passing by,

Two strong men had heard him cry;

And, with sticks, these two strong men

Hooked poor Johnny out again.

Oh! you should have seen him shiver

When they pulled him from the river.

He was in a sorry plight,

Dripping wet, and such a fright!

Wet all over, everywhere,

Clothes, and arms, and face, and hair:

Johnny never will forget

What it is to be so wet.

And the fishes, one, two, three,

Are come back again, you see;

Up they came the moment after,

To enjoy the fun and laughter.

Each popped out his little head,

And, to tease poor Johnny, said

"Silly little Johnny, look,

You have lost your writing-book!"

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1194