January cold desolate;
February dripping wet;
March wind ranges;
April changes;
Birds sing in tune
To flowers of May,
And sunny June
Brings longest day;
In scorched July
The storm-clouds fly,
Lightning-torn;
August bears corn,
September fruit;
In rough October
Earth must disrobe her;
Stars fall and shoot
In keen November;
And night is long
And cold is strong
In bleak December.
[Christina Rossetti]
I thought I saw a cloud whale
Sail through a sea of blue;
It changed into an elephant
Of most unusual hue,
And even as I marveled,
It split itself in two.
I watched a long white serpent
Winding its cloudy way,
To pounce upon a cloud frog
That unsuspecting lay.
The little frog became a bird
And slowly flew away.
All afternoon I watched them, -
Such magic as they knew!
I saw a white rhinoceros,
And white flamingos, too,
Till evening shut her deep blue tent
Over my private zoo.
[Norma Gillett]
What is this life if, full of care, –
We have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows:
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
[William Henry Davies]
