A Nursery Tragedy
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A Nursery Tragedy - Poem by Laura E. Richards
It was a lordly elephant,
His name, his name was Sprite;
He stood upon the nursery floor,
All ready for a fight.
He looked upon the rocking-horse,
Who proudly prancing stood:
"O rocking-horse! O shocking horse!
I'm thirsting for your blood!
"How dare you stand and look at me,
You ugly snorting thing?
Know, that of every living beast,
The elephant is king!
"And if a person looks at me,
Unless I give him leave,
He's very apt to meet his death
Too swiftly for reprieve.
"You are the most unpleasant beast
I e'er have looked on yet;
Although the stupid children here
Will make of you a pet.
"I hate your tail of waving hair!
I hate your bits of brass!
But more, oh, more than all, I hate
Your gleaming eyes of glass!
"Were you of cotton-flannel made,
As nursery beasts should be,
With eyes of good black boot-buttons,
You then might look at me.
"I might forgive your want of tusks,
Your lack of trunk forgive;
But that wild, goggling, glassy glare -
No! never, while I live!
"So get you gone, you rocking-horse!
Go to your closet-shed,
And there, behind the wood-basket,
Conceal your ugly head!"
But as the elephant thus did scold
And rage and fume and roar,
The rocking-horse rocked over him,
And crushed him to the floor.
Gregory Griggs
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Gregory Griggs - Poem by Laura E. Richards
Gregory Griggs, Gregory Griggs,
Had forty-seven different wigs;
He wore them up, and he wore them down,
To please the people of Boston town.
He wore them east, and he wore them west,
But he never could tell which he liked the best.
The Palace
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The Palace - Poem by Laura E. Richards
It's far away under the water,
And it's far away under the sea,
There's a beautiful palace a-waiting
For my little Rosy and me.
The roof is made of coral,
And the floor is made of pearl,
And over it all the great waves fall
With a terrible tumble and whirl.
The fishes swim in at the window,
And the fishes swim out at the door,
And the lobsters and eels go dancing quadrilles
All over the beautiful floor.
There's a silver throne at on end,
And a golden throne at the other;
And on them you see, as plain as can be,
"Queen Rosy" and "Queen Mother."
And I will sit on the silver throne,
And Rosy shall sit on the gold;
And there we will stay, and frolic and play,
Until we're a thousand years old.
Bunker Hill Monument
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Bunker Hill Monument - Poem by Laura E. Richards
Do you see that stately column,
Children dear,
Lifting its gray head to heaven,
Year by year?
Telling of the battle fought,
Telling of the good work wrought,
Telling of the victory bought,
Bought so dear!
Oh! the costly blood that flowed,
Children mine!
Fast as from the purple grapes
Flows the wine!
Oh! the heroes lying dead!
Oh! the women's hearts that bled!
Oh! the bitter tears they shed,
Children mine!
Long ago the tears were dried,
Children dear!
Long ago the weepers died,
Year by year.
But the column old and gray
Tells the story day by day.
"Victory!" it seems to say.
"Victory's here!"
The Boots of a Household
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The Boots of a Household - Poem by Laura E. Richards
They came in beauty, side by side,
They filled one house with noise;
And now they're trotting far and wide,
On feet of girls and boys.
The self-same shoemaker did bend
O'er every heel and toe;
Shaped all their upper leathers fair, -
Where are those leathers now?
One pair is kicking 'gainst the bench,
The patient bench, at school;
And two are wading through the mud,
And splashing in the pool.
"The sea, the blue, lone sea," hath one.
He left it on the beach;
A merry wave came dancing up,
And bore it out of reach.
One sleeps where depths of slimy bog
Are glossed with grasses o'er;
One hasty plunge - it loosed its hold,
And sank to rise no more.
One pair - aha! I see them now,
And know them past all doubt;
For through each leather, gaping wide,
A rosy toe peeps out.
And parted thus, old, dusty, torn,
They travel far and wide,
Who in the shop, in shining rows,
Sat lately side by side.
And thus they frolic, frolic there,
And thus they caper here;
But great and small, and torn and all,
To mother's heart are dear.