What's your favorite childhood poem ?

[taxman]

My Mum used to sing me a poem about the boy who was sent to the Moon for being naughty.

 

"Up in the sky, ever so high, alone he has to dwell

And how they got him all up there is more than I can tell......"

 

Can't remember all of it but its actually rather sad.

[Burntlego]

Anything by Shel Silverstein! A couple of favourites:

 

My beard grows down to my toes,

I never wears no clothes,

I wraps my hair

Around my bare,

And down the road I goes.

 

If you are a dreamer, come in.

If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,

A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .

If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire,

For we have some flax golden tales to spin.

Come in!

Come in!

[purdyamos]

That one by Philip Larkin that I can't quote here. I wish I'd found out about it even sooner than I did!

[PinkJo]

I loved T'was the night before Christmas,

The owl and the pussycat

The ballad of Semmerwater.

 

My grandad used to sing loads if rhymes/poems to me and I can only remember a couple of lines from some of them...

 

Harry Black Barry, the king of the Jews, bought his wife a pair of shoes,

when the shoes began to wear, harry Barry began to swear, etc etc.

 

Three black cats came knocking at the door........can't remember

 

also like the one with uncle Tom Cobley.

[MadnBad]

I'm reading D.H.Lawrence at the minute but on less literary note,

November the fifth has come and gone but thoughts of it still linger

i held a banger in my hand has anyone seen my finger.

[PinkJo]

Ha ha I remember that 5th November one. I had it in a jokebook.

 

Remembered my poem now...

 

"Three Tom Cats"

Not last night, but the night before

 

Three Tom Cats came knocking at my door.

 

One had a fiddle, one had a drum,

 

One had a pancake stuck to his bum.

[Longcol]

"The Song of Hiawatha" by Longfellow.

 

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=LonHiaw.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1

 

My Granny used to read parts of it to me on Sunday afternoons - such happy memories.

 

I read a couple of excerpts at her funeral.

 

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,

By the shining Big-Sea-Water,

Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,

Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.

Dark behind it rose the forest,

Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,

Rose the firs with cones upon them;

Bright before it beat the water,

Beat the clear and sunny water,

Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

 

and.

 

Then the little Hiawatha

Learned of every bird its language,

Learned their names and all their secrets,

How they built their nests in Summer,

Where they hid themselves in Winter,

Talked with them whene'er he met them,

Called them "Hiawatha's Chickens."

 

 

Of all beasts he learned the language,

Learned their names and all their secrets,

How the beavers built their lodges,

Where the squirrels hid their acorns,

How the reindeer ran so swiftly,

Why the rabbit was so timid,

Talked with them whene'er he met them,

Called them "Hiawatha's Brothers."

 

 

Always wondered if they were the inspiration behind Tom Bombadil in "The Lord of the Rings".

 

http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Tom_Bombadil%27s_Songs

[Lady Star]

Some primal termite knocked on wood

And tasted it, and found it good!

And that is why your Cousin May

Fell through the parlour floor today.

 

Ogden Nash

[mystes]

Rain rain go away

Come back again in another day

 

 

thats all. bow

[Hetty]

Albert and the lion, was and still is a favourite!!! One that my (then six year old) daughter came home with ;

 

Fatty and Thinny

were both in bed

Fatty did a f**t

And Thinny dropped dead!!

 

My elderly maiden aunt died nearly fell over, when she heard that one. It still makes me smile!!!