Poems (Mansfield)/Evening Song of the Thoughtful Child

by Katherine Mansfield

EVENING SONG OF THE THOUGHTFUL CHILD

Shadow children, thin and small,
Now the day is left behind,
You are dancing on the wall,
On the curtains, on the blind.

On the ceiling, children, too,
Peeping round the nursery door,
Let me come and play with you,
As we always played before.

Let's pretend that we have wings
And can really truly fly
Over every sort of things
Up and up into the sky,

Where the sweet star children play—
It does seem a dreadful rule,
They must stay inside all day.
I suppose they go to school.

And to-night, dears, do you see,
They are having such a race
With their father moon—the tree
Almost hides his funny face.

Shadow children, once at night,
I was all tucked up in bed,
Father moon came—such a fright—
Through the window poked his head;

I could see his staring eyes,
O, my dears, I was afraid,
That was not a nice surprise,
And the dreadful noise I made!

EVENING SONG OF THE THOUGHTFUL CHILD

Let us make a fairy ring,
Shadow children, hand in hand,
And our songs quite softly sing
That we learned in fairyland.

Shadow children, thin and small,
See, the day is far behind;
And I kiss you—on the wall
On the curtains—on the blind.