Poems (Van Rensselaer)/Tommy's Playmates
TOMMY'S PLAYMATES
I do not need to dream at night, I can so easily,"Pretending" in the broad daylight, Be things that are not Me.
Sometimes I am a polar bear Out hunting on the ice,With two young cubs the food to share, And they are my white mice.
Sometimes I am a pirate wild, With more than eighteen menTill all but two are shot and killed— Those are the mice again.
When mother laughs but won't allow The mice in bed, I'd laughExcept that I must be a cow And bellow for my calf.
I was an angel yesterday, The kind that flies and sings,And so the mice were sure that they Had pairs of little wings.
They are not yet as wise as I To make-believe and play,But till I showed them how to try They were just mice all day.
For Betty Foster,1910.