A Cradle Song
[i:]
Sleep, sleep, beauty bright
Dreaming over the toys of night.
Sleep, sleep: in the sleep
Little sorrows sit and weep.
By W. Blake
The Telephone
[a:]
Friends a hundred miles apart
Sit and chatter heart to heart,
Boys and girls from school afar
Speak to mother, ask papa.
By Alfred H. Miles
Balls
[
]
And there are many other balls
We find at pleasure’s source –
The croquet ball, the hockey ball.
The skittle ball, lacrosse,
And smaller ball, the marble balls,
And bearing balls, of course.
By Alfred H. Miles
[–
:]
I have two legs
With which I walk:
I have a tongue
With which I talk,
And with it too,
I eat my food
and tell
If it’s bad or good.
[
:]
The early bird so I have heard,
Catches the worm, and ‘pon my word,
I know two chaps and yet a third
Could learn a lesson from that bird.
[i:]
Stop! Look! Listen!
Before you cross the street.
Use your eyes, use your ears,
And then use your feet!
Queen Mab’s Chariot
[i]
Fib, and Tib, and Pink, and Pin,
Pick, and Quick, and Jill, and Jin,
Tit, and Nit, and Wap, and Wim –
The train that wait upon her.
By M. Drayton
March, march, head erect
Left, right, that’s correct.
Alas, Alack!
[
]
Ann, Ann?
Come quick as you can!
There’s a fish that talks
In the frying-pan.
Out of the fat,
As clear as glass,
He put up his mouth
and moaned “Alas”
Oh, most mournful,
“Alas, alack!”
Then turned to the sizzling,
And sank him back.
By W. de La Mare
Wash, hands, wash,
Daddy’s gone to plough.
Splash, hands, splash,
They’re all washed now.
Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat,
Will you catch that big fat rat?
It is sitting by the ham
Just behind the apple jam.
Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat,
That fat rat is very bad.
If you catch it, I’ll be glad.
I’ll give you some milk for that.
The Washing-up Song
[
]
Sing a song of washing up,
Water hot as hot.
Cups and saucers, plates and spoons,
Dishes such a lot!
Work the dish mop round and round,
Wash them clean as clean
Polish with a dry white cloth,
How busy we have been!
By E. Gould
Hickory, dickory, dock!
Hickory, dickory, dock!
The mouse ran up the clock,
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory, dickory, dock!
The Listening Woods
[u]
I looked at the shadowed mosses,
I looked at the nests overhead,
I looked at the small brook dreaming
Alone in its sandy bed.
By Ida W.Benham
The Brook
[
]
Grumbling, stumbling,
Fumbling all the day,
Fluttering, stuttering,
Muttering away,
Rustling, hustling,
Bustling as it flows,
That it how the brook talks,
Bubbling as it goes.
By A. Tennyson
Dust of Snow
[]
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I have rued.
By R. Frost
Spring Rain
[ei]
Rain, rain, rain, April rain,
You are feeding seed and grain,
You are raising plants and crops
With your gaily sparkling drops.
The Lion
[ai]
Oh, weep for Mr. and Mrs. Bryan!
He was eaten by a lion,
Following which, the lion’s lioness
Up and swallowed Bryan’s Bryaness.
By O. Nash
[i]
Said the Crab unto the Oyster
Do not loiter in this cloister,
Join me in a voyage rare,
Up into the moist salt air.
Noise and turmoil would annoy me,
Toil and trouble, too would cloy me,
Should I leave this royal cloister
Adroitly rejoined the oyster.
By L. Carroll
Autumn Leaves
[av]
Down
down
down
Red
yellow
brown
Autumn leaves tumble down,
Autumn leaves crumble down,
Autumn leaves bumble down,
Flaking and shaking,
Tumbledown leaves.
No, No, November
[i]
Autumn crowns the glowing sphere,
Winter’s grasp is full of cheer,
You between them, sad and dear,
Bind your brows with leafage sere,
Saying, “I remember
When the year was not a bier” –
Ah, woe, November!
Good Night
[
]
Here’s a Body – there’s a bed!
There’s a pillow – here’s a head!
There’s a curtain – here’s a light!
There’s a puff – and so good night!
By J. Wallace
Outer Space
[p]
But outer space,
At least thus far,
For all the fuss
Of the populace
Stays more popular
Than populous.
By R. Frost
[b]
Butterfly, butterfly,
Where do you fly,
So quick and so high
In the blue, blue sky?
[t], [d], [k]
I have a cat
His name is Pit;
And by the fire
He likes to sit
Each day I bring him
A dish of milk,
And smooth his coat
That shines like silk.
And on my knee
He likes to sit
For Pit loves me
And I love Pit.
Come to Dinner
Come to dinner,
come to dinner,
Ding – dong – dell,
Ding – dong – dell,
Soup, meat and potatoes,
Soup, meat and potatoes,
Ding – dong – dell.
Ding – dong – dell.
Golden Hour
[g]
Golden in the garden,
Golden in the glen,
Golden, golden, golden,
September’s here again!
Golden in the tree tops,
Golden in the sky,
Golden, golden, golden
September’s passing by.
By J. Keats
Aunts
[
]
Children, aunts are not glamorous creatures,
As very often their features
Tend to be elderly caricatures of your own.
By V. Graham
Algy Met a Bear
[
]
Algy met a bear,
The bear was bulgy,
The bulge was Algy.
By Ed. Lear
God made the Bees
[m]
God made the bees,
And the bees make honey,
The miller’s man does all the work,
But the miller makes the money.
By L. Bowen
[n]
If many men know
What many men know,
If many men went
Where many men go,
If many men did
What many men do,
The world would be better –
I think so; don’t you?
By B.R. Hudelson
[]
In the spring,
In the spring,
Sweet and fresh is everything.
Winter winds are no more blowing,
In the fields all is growing,
In the spring,
In the spring,
Sweet and fresh is everything!
To a Butterfly
[f]
I’ve watched you now a full half-hour,
Self-poised upon that yellow flower,
And, little butterfly! Indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed
By W. Wordsworth
The Tide in the River
The tide in the river,
The tide in the river
The tide in the river runs deep,
I saw a shiver,
Pass over the river
As the tide turned in its sleep.
By E. Farjcon
The Golden Legend
[
]
A thousand faiths with a common dream
A thousand tongues with a common theme
A thousand thoughts with a single plan:
Peace on earth and goodwill to man!
By J. Wallace
Toast
[
]
Here’s health to all those that we love,
Here’s health to all those that love us,
Here’s health to all those that love them
That love those that love us!
City
[s–z]
In the morning the city
Spreads its wing
Making a song
In stone that sings.
In the evening the city
Goes to bed
hanging lights
About its head.
By L. Hughes
When a Man’s Busy
[
]
When a man’s busy, why, leisure
Strikes him as wonderful pleasure:
Faith, and at leisure is he,
Straight away he wants to be busy.
By R. Browning
Rules and Regulations
[
]
A short direction
To avoid dejection
By variations
In occupations,
And prolongation
Of relaxation,
And combinations
Of recreations,
And disputation
On the state of nation
In adaption
To your station,
By invitations
To friends and relations
By evitation,
Of amputation
By permutation
In conversation,
And deep reflection
You’ll avoid dejection.
Moral: Behave
By Ed. Lear
The Corn-song
[h]
Heap high the farmer’s wintry hoard
Heap high the golden corn!
No richer gift has autumn poured
From out her lavish horn!
By J.G. Whittier
Clouds
[w]
White sheep, white sheep
On a blue hill.
When the wind stops
You all stand still.
You walk far away
When the winds blow
White sheep, white sheep.
“I’ll Try” and “I Can’t”
[l]
The little boy who says “I’ll try”,
Will climb to the hill-top;
The little boy who says “I can’t”,
Will at the bottom stop.
By R.L. Stevenson
Rain
[r]
The rain is raining all around,
It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.
By R.L. Stevenson