At The Zoo In Autumn, when the leaves are

~William Makepeace Thackeray brown,

Take pen and ink, and write it down.
First I saw the white bear, then I saw
the black; I sent a message to the fish:
Then I saw the camel with a hump I told them "This is what I wish."
upon his back;
Then I saw the grey wolf, with mutton The little fishes of the sea,
in his maw; They sent an answer back to me.
Then I saw the wombat waddle in the The little fishes' answer was
straw; "We cannot do it, Sir, because-"
Then I saw the elephant a-waving of
his trunk; I sent to them again to say
Then I saw the monkeys-mercy, how "It will be better to obey."
unpleasantly they-smelt!
The fishes answered, with a grin,
Caterpillar "Why, what a temper you are in!"
~Christina Rossetti
I told them once, I told them twice:
Brown and furry They would not listen to advice.
Caterpillar in a hurry,
Take your walk I took a kettle large and new,
To the shady leaf, or stalk, Fit for the deed I had to do.
Or what not,
My heart went hop, my heart went
Which may be the chosen spot.
thump:
No toad spy you,
I filled the kettle at the pump.
Hovering bird of prey pass by you;
Spin and die, Then someone came to me and said
To live again a butterfly. "The little fishes are in bed."

Humpty Dumpty's Song I said to him, I said it plain,

"Then you must wake them up again."
~Lewis Carroll
I said it very loud and clear:
In winter, when the fields are white, I went and shouted in his ear.
I sing this song for your delight.
But he was very stiff and proud:
In Spring, when woods are getting He said "You needn't shout so loud!"
green,
I'll try and tell you what I mean. And he was very proud and stiff:
He said "I'd go and wake them, if-"
In Summer, when the days are long,
Perhaps you'll understand the song. I took a corkscrew from the shelf:
I went to wake them up myself.
And when I found the door was locked, Had stayed at home behind me and
I pulled and pushed and kicked and was fast asleep in bed.
knocked.

And when I found the door was shut,

I tried to turn the handle, but-

My Shadow What is Pink?

~Robert Louis ~Christina Rossetti

Stevenson What is pink? A rose is pink

By the fountain's brink.
What is red? A poppy's red
I have a little shadow that goes in and
In its barley bed.
out with me,
What is blue? The sky is blue
And what can be the use of him is
Where the clouds float through.
more than I can see.
What is white? A swan is white
He is very, very like me from the heels
Sailing in the light.
up to the head;
What is yellow? Pears are yellow,
And I see him jump before me, when I
Rich and ripe and mellow.
jump into my bed.
What is green? The grass is green,
The funniest things about him is the With small flowers between.
way he likes to grow- What is violet? Clouds are violet
Not at all like proper children, which is In the summer twilight.
always very slow; What is orange? Why, an orange,
For he sometimes shoots up taller like Just an orange!
an India rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that
there's none of him at all.
What Does the Bee Do?
He hasn't got a notion of how children ~Christina Rossetti
ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in What does the bee do?
every sort of way. Bring home honey.
He stays so close beside me, he's a And what does Father do?
coward you can see; Bring home money.
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as And what does Mother do?
that shadow sticks to me! Lay out the money.
And what does baby do?
One morning, very early, before the Eat up the honey.
sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on
every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an
arrant sleepy-head,
 Trees
~Sarah Coleridge

The Oak is called the king of trees,

The Aspen quivers in the breeze,
Two Little Kittens
The Poplar grows up straight and tall,
~Anonymous (circa 1880)
The Peach tree spreads along the wall,
Two little kittens, one stormy night, The Sycamore gives pleasant shade,
Began to quarrel, and then to fight; The Willow droops in watery glade,
One had a mouse, the other had none, The Fir tree useful in timber gives,
And that's the way the quarrel begun. The Beech amid the forest lives.

"I'll have that mouse," said the biggest

cat;
There was a Naughty Boy
"You'll have that mouse? We'll see
about that!" ~John Keats
"I will have that mouse," said the
eldest son; There was a naughty boy,
"You shan't have the mouse," said the A naughty boy was he,
little one. He would not stop at home,
He could not quiet be-
I told you before 'twas a stormy night
He took
When these two little kittens began to
In his knapsack
fight;
A book
The old woman seized her sweeping
Full of vowels
broom,
And a shirt
And swept the two kittens right out of
With some towels,
the room.
A slight cap
The ground was covered with frost and For night cap,
snow, A hair brush,
And the two little kittens had nowhere Comb ditto,
to go; New stockings-
So they laid them down on the mat at For old ones
the door, Would split O!
While the old woman finished This knapsack
sweeping the floor. Tight at 'is back
He rivetted close
Then they crept in, as quiet as mice, And followed his nose
All wet with the snow, and cold as ice, To the North,
For they found it was better, that To the North,
stormy night, And followed his nose
To lie down and sleep than to quarrel To the North.
and fight.
There was a naughty boy, Who has seen the wind?
And a naughty boy was he, Neither you nor I;
He ran away to Scotland But when the trees bow down their
The people for to see- heads
There he found The wind is passing by.
That the ground
Was as hard, The Rainbow
That a yard
Was as long,
~Christina Rossetti
That a song
Boats sail on the rivers,
Was as merry,
And ships sail on the seas;
That a cherry
But clouds that sail across the sky
Was as red-
Are prettier than these.
That lead
Was as weighty There are bridges on the rivers,
That fourscore As pretty as you please;
Was as eighty, But the bow that bridges heaven,
That a door And overtops the trees,
Was as wooden And builds a road from earth to sky,
As in England- Is prettier far than these.
So he stood in his shoes
And he wondered, The Little Doll
He wondered,
He stood in his shoes
~Charles Kingsley
And he wondered. I once had a sweet little doll, dears,
The prettiest doll in the world;
There Was a Little Girl
Her cheeks were so red and so white;
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
dears,
There was a little girl And her hair was so charmingly curled.
Who had a little curl
But I lost my poor little doll, dears,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
As I played in the heath one day;
When she was good
And I cried for her more than a week,
She was very good indeed,
dears;
But when she was bad she was horrid.
But I never could find where she lay.
The Wind
I found my poor little doll, dears,
~Christina Rossetti As I played in the heath one day:
Who has seen the wind? Folks say she is terrible changed,
Neither I nor you; dears,
But when the leaves hang trembling For her paint is all washed away,
The wind is passing through. And her arm trodden off by the cows,
dears,
And her hair not the least bit curled:
Yet for old sakes' sake she is still, There little baby, there you go:
dears, Up to the ceiling, down to the ground,
The prettiest doll in the world. Backwards and forwards, round and
round.
The Baby's Dance Then dance, little baby, and mother
~Ann Taylor shall sing,
Dance, little baby, dance up high, With the merry gay coral, ding, ding,
Never mind baby, mother is by; a-ding, ding.
Crow and caper, caper and crow,