Read When We Were Very Young Page 2


  To the market square.

  I wanted a rabbit,

  A little brown rabbit,

  And I looked for a rabbit

  ’Most everywhere.

  For I went to the stall where they sold sweet lavender.

  (“Only a penny for a bunch of lavender!”)

  “Have you got a rabbit, ’cos I don’t want lavender?”

  But they hadn’t got a rabbit, not anywhere there.

  I had a penny,

  And I had another penny,

  I took my pennies

  To the market square.

  I did want a rabbit,

  A little baby rabbit,

  And I looked for rabbits

  ’Most everywhere.

  And I went to the stall where they sold fresh mackerel.

  (“Now then! Tuppence for a fresh-caught mackerel!”)

  “Have you got a rabbit, ’cos I don’t like mackerel?”

  But they hadn’t got a rabbit, not anywhere there.

  I found a sixpence,

  A little white sixpence.

  I took it in my hand

  To the market square.

  I was buying my rabbit

  (I do like rabbits),

  And I looked for my rabbit

  ’Most everywhere.

  So I went to the stall where they sold fine saucepans.

  (“Walk up, walk up, sixpence for a saucepan!”)

  “Could I have a rabbit, ’cos we’ve got two saucepans?”

  But they hadn’t got a rabbit, not anywhere there.

  I had nuffin’,

  No, I hadn’t got nuffin’,

  So I didn’t go down

  To the market square;

  But I walked on the common,

  The old-gold common…

  And I saw little rabbits

  ’Most everywhere!

  So I’m sorry for the people who sell fine saucepans,

  I’m sorry for the people who sell fresh mackerel,

  I’m sorry for the people who sell sweet lavender,

  ’Cos they haven’t got a rabbit, not anywhere there!

  Daffodowndilly

  She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,

  She wore her greenest gown;

  She turned to the south wind

  And curtsied up and down.

  She turned to the sunlight

  And shook her yellow head,

  And whispered to her neighbour:

  “Winter is dead.”

  Water-Lilies

  Where the water-lilies go

  To and fro,

  Rocking in the ripples of the water,

  Lazy on a leaf lies the Lake King’s daughter,

  And the faint winds shake her.

  Who will come and take her?

  I will! I will!

  Keep still! Keep still!

  Sleeping on a leaf lies the Lake King’s daughter….

  Then the wind comes skipping

  To the lilies on the water;

  And the kind winds wake her.

  Now who will take her?

  With a laugh she is slipping

  Through the lilies on the water.

  Wait! Wait!

  Too late, too late!

  Only the water-lilies go

  To and fro,

  Dipping, dipping,

  To the ripples of the water.

  Disobedience

  James James

  Morrison Morrison

  Weatherby George Dupree

  Took great

  Care of his Mother,

  Though he was only three.

  James James

  Said to his Mother,

  “Mother,” he said, said he:

  “You must never go down to the end of the town,

  if you don’t go down with me.”

  James James

  Morrison’s Mother

  Put on a golden gown,

  James James

  Morrison’s Mother

  Drove to the end of the town.

  James James

  Morrison’s Mother

  Said to herself, said she:

  “I can get right down to the end of the town

  and be back in time for tea.”

  King John

  Put up a notice,

  “LOST or STOLEN or STRAYED!

  JAMES JAMES

  MORRISON’S MOTHER

  SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN MISLAID.

  LAST SEEN

  WANDERING VAGUELY:

  QUITE OF HER OWN ACCORD,

  SHE TRIED TO GET DOWN TO THE END

  OF THE TOWN—FORTY SHILLINGS

  REWARD!”

  James James

  Morrison Morrison

  (Commonly known as Jim)

  Told his

  Other relations

  Not to go blaming him.

  James James

  Said to his Mother,

  “Mother,” he said, said he:

  “You must never go down to the end of the town

  without consulting me.”

  James James

  Morrison’s mother

  Hasn’t been heard of since.

  King John

  Said he was sorry,

  So did the Queen and Prince.

  King John

  (Somebody told me)

  Said to a man he knew:

  “If people go down to the end of the town, well,

  what can anyone do?”

  (Now then, very softly)

  J. J.

  M.M.

  W.G.Du P.

  Took great

  C/o his M*****

  Though he was only 3.

  J. J.

  Said to his M*****

  “M*****,” he said, said he:

  “You-must-never-go-down-to-the-end-of-the-town-if-you-don’t-go-down-with ME!”

  Spring Morning

  Where am I going? I don’t quite know.

  Down to the stream where the king-cups grow—

  Up on the hill where the pine-trees blow—

  Anywhere, anywhere. I don’t know.

  Where am I going? The clouds sail by,

  Little one, baby ones, over the sky.

  Where am I going? The shadows pass,

  Little ones, baby ones, over the grass.

  If you were a cloud, and sailed up there,

  You’d sail on water as blue as air,

  And you’d see me here in the fields and say:

  “Doesn’t the sky look green today?”

  Where am I going? The high rooks call:

  “It’s awful fun to be born at all.”

  Where am I going? The ring-doves coo:

  “We do have beautiful things to do.”

  If you were a bird, and lived on high,

  You’d lean on the wind when the wind came by,

  You’d say to the wind when it took you away:

  “That’s where I wanted to go today!”

  Where am I going? I don’t quite know.

  What does it matter where people go?

  Down to the wood where the blue-bells grow—

  Anywhere, anywhere. I don’t know.

  The Island

  If I had a ship,

  I’d sail my ship,

  I’d sail my ship

  Through Eastern seas;

  Down to a beach where the slow waves thunder—

  The green curls over and the white falls under—

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  On the sun-bright sand.

  Then I’d leave my ship and I’d land,

  And climb the steep white sand,

  And climb to the trees,

  The six dark trees,

  The coco-nut trees on the cliff’s green crown—

  Hands and knees

  To the coco-nut trees,

  Face to the cliff as the stones patter down,

  Up, up, up, staggering, stumbling,

  Round the corner where the rock is crumbling

  Round this shoulder,<
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  Over this boulder,

  Up to the top where the six trees stand….

  And there would I rest, and lie,

  My chin in my hands, and gaze

  At the dazzle of sand below,

  And the green waves curling slow,

  And the grey-blue distant haze

  Where the sea goes up to the sky….

  And I’d say to myself as I looked so lazily down at the sea:

  “There’s nobody else in the world, and the world was made for me.”

  The Three Foxes

  Once upon a time there were three little foxes

  Who didn’t wear stockings, and they didn’t wear sockses,

  But they all had handkerchiefs to blow their noses,

  And they kept their handkerchiefs in cardboard boxes.

  They lived in the forest in three little houses,

  And they didn’t wear coats, and they didn’t wear trousies.

  They ran through the woods on their little bare tootsies,

  And they played “Touch Last” with a family of mouses.

  They didn’t go shopping in the High Street shopses,

  But caught what they wanted in the woods and copses.

  They all went fishing, and they caught three wormses,

  They went out hunting, and they caught three wopses.

  They went to a Fair, and they all won prizes—

  Three plum-puddingses and three mince-pieses.

  They rode on elephants and swang on swingses,

  And hit three coco-nuts at coco-nut shieses.

  That’s all that I know of the three little foxes

  Who kept their handkerchiefs in cardboard boxes.

  They lived in the forest in three little houses,

  But they didn’t wear coats and they didn’t wear trousies,

  And they didn’t wear stockings and they didn’t wear sockses.

  Politeness

  If people ask me,

  I always tell them:

  “Quite well, thank you, I’m very glad to say.”

  If people ask me,

  I always answer,

  “Quite well, thank you, how are you today?”

  I always answer,

  I always tell them,

  If they ask me

  Politely….

  BUT SOMETIMES

  I wish

  That they wouldn’t.

  Jonathan Jo

  Jonathan Jo

  Has a mouth like an “O”

  And a wheelbarrow full of surprises;

  If you ask for a bat,

  Or for something like that,

  He has got it, whatever the size is.

  If you’re wanting a ball,

  It’s no trouble at all;

  Why, the more that you ask for, the merrier—

  Like a hoop and a top,

  And a watch that won’t stop,

  And some sweets, and an Aberdeen terrier.

  Jonathan Jo

  Has a mouth like an “O”

  But this is what makes him so funny:

  If you give him a smile,

  Only once in a while,

  Then he never expects any money!

  At the Zoo

  There are lions and roaring tigers, and enormous camels and things,

  There are biffalo-buffalo-bisons, and a great big bear with wings,

  There’s a sort of a tiny potamus, and a tiny nosserus too—

  But I gave buns to the elephant when I went down to the Zoo!

  There are badgers and bidgers and bodgers, and a Superintendent’s House,

  There are masses of goats, and a Polar, and different kinds of mouse,

  And I think there’s a sort of a something which is called a wallaboo—

  But I gave buns to the elephant when I went down to the Zoo!

  If you try to talk to the bison, he never quite understands;

  You can’t shake hands with a mingo—he doesn’t like shaking hands.

  And lions and roaring tigers hate saying, “How do you do?”—

  But I give buns to the elephant when I go down to the Zoo!

  Rice Pudding

  What is the matter with Mary Jane?

  She’s crying with all her might and main,

  And she won’t eat her dinner—rice pudding again—

  What is the matter with Mary Jane?

  What is the matter with Mary Jane?

  I’ve promised her dolls and a daisy-chain,

  And a book about animals—all in vain—

  What is the matter with Mary Jane?

  What is the matter with Mary Jane?

  She’s perfectly well, and she hasn’t a pain;

  But, look at her, now she’s beginning again!—

  What is the matter with Mary Jane?

  What is the matter with Mary Jane?

  I’ve promised her sweets and a ride in the train,

  And I’ve begged her to stop for a bit and explain—

  What is the matter with Mary Jane?

  What is the matter with Mary Jane?

  She’s perfectly well, and she hasn’t a pain,

  And it’s lovely rice pudding for dinner again!—

  What is the matter with Mary Jane?

  Missing

  Has anybody seen my mouse?

  I opened his box for half a minute,

  Just to make sure he was really in it,

  And while I was looking, he jumped outside!

  I tried to catch him, I tried, I tried….

  I think he’s somewhere about the house.

  Has anyone seen my mouse?

  Uncle John, have you seen my mouse?

  Just a small sort of mouse, a dear little brown one

  He came from the country, he wasn’t a town one,

  So he’ll feel all lonely in a London street;

  Why, what could he possibly find to eat?

  He must be somewhere. I’ll ask Aunt Rose:

  Have you seen a mouse with a woffelly nose?

  Oh, somewhere about—

  He’s just got out….

  Hasn’t anybody seen my mouse?

  The King’s Breakfast

  The King asked

  The Queen, and

  The Queen asked

  The Dairymaid:

  “Could we have some butter for

  The Royal slice of bread?”

  The Queen asked

  The Dairymaid,

  The Dairymaid

  Said, “Certainly,

  I’ll go and tell

  The cow

  Now

  Before she goes to bed.”

  The Dairymaid

  She curtsied,

  And went and told

  The Alderney:

  “Don’t forget the butter for

  The Royal slice of bread.”

  The Alderney

  Said sleepily:

  “You’d better tell

  His Majesty

  That many people nowadays

  Like marmalade

  Instead.”

  The Dairymaid

  Said, “Fancy!”

  And went to

  Her Majesty.

  She curtsied to the Queen, and

  She turned a little red:

  “Excuse me,

  Your Majesty,

  For taking of

  The liberty,

  But marmalade is tasty, if

  It’s very

  Thicky

  Spread.”

  The Queen said

  “Oh!”

  And went to

  His Majesty:

  “Talking of the butter for

  The Royal slice of bread,

  Many people

  Think that

  Marmalade

  Is nicer.

  Would you like to try a little

  Marmalade

  Instead?”

  The King said,

  “Bother!”

  And then he said,

  “O
h, dear me!”

  The King sobbed, “Oh, deary me!”

  And went back to bed.

  “Nobody,”

  He whimpered,

  “Could call me

  A fussy man;

  I only want

  A little bit

  Of butter for

  My bread!”

  The Queen said,

  “There, there!”

  And went to

  The Dairymaid.

  The Dairymaid

  Said, “There, there!”

  And went to the shed.

  The cow said,

  “There, there!

  I didn’t really

  Mean it;

  Here’s milk for his porringer

  And butter for his bread.”

  The Queen took

  The butter

  And brought it to

  His Majesty;

  The King said,

  “Butter, eh?”

  And bounced out of bed.

  “Nobody,” he said,

  As he kissed her

  Tenderly,

  “Nobody,” he said,

  As he slid down

  The banisters,

  “Nobody,

  My darling,

  Could call me

  A fussy man—

  BUT

  I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!”

  Hoppity

  Christopher Robin goes

  Hoppity, hoppity,

  Hoppity, hoppity, hop.