Nursery Rhymes and Poems

The grave old clock on the mantelpiece
Is ticking the hours away;
There’s never a smile on his solemn-face
Through out all the merry day,
Tick-tock, tick-tock,
Whatever we do or say.
When his hands are showing a quarter to nine
WE must hurry to school away;
The clock never scolds or gives usa frown
If we stop a minute to play.
Tick-tock, tick tock,
Whether [...]

The girl in the lane that couldn’t speak plain
Cried gobble, gobble, gobble;
The man on the hill that couldn’t stand still
Went hobble, hobble, hobble.

When I was a little girl, about seven years old,
I hadn’t got a petticoat, to cover me from the cold.
So I went into Darlington, that pretty little town,
And there I bought a petticoat, a cloak, and a gown.
I went into the woods and built me a kirk,
And all the birds of the air, they helped [...]

The gates of fame are open wide,
Its halls are always full;
And some go in by the door marked Push
And some by the door marked Pull.

The fortunes of war I tell you plain
Are a wooden leg, or a golden chain.

Goodness Gracious, what a bore!
Why will they not heed the door?
Here I pull with might and main,
But alas ‘tis all in vain.
Just because it rains like fun
I, a foolish thing, have done,
Come away without my key,
How could I so stupid be!
Bless the thing! What can I do!
My forgetfulness I rue!
As if mad I pull the [...]

The fair maid who, the first of May,
Goes to the fields at break of day,
And washes in dew from the hawthorn-tree,
Will ever after handsome be.

Sway to and fro in the twilight gray;
This is the ferry for Shadowtown;
It always sails at the end of the day,
Just as the darkness closes down.
Rest, little head, on my shoulder so
A sleepy kiss is the only fare;
Drifting away from the world we go,
Baby and I in the rocking char.
See, where the fire logs glow [...]

A farmer went trotting upon his gray mare,
Bumpety, bumpety, bump!
With his daughter behind him so rosy and fair,
Lumpety, lumpety, lump!
A raven cried croak! and they all tumbled down,
Bumpety, bumpety, bump!
The mare broke her knees, and the farmer his crown,
Lumpety, lumpety, lump!
The mischievous raven flew laughing away,
Bumpety, bumpety, bump!
And vowed he would serve them the same [...]

Come, cuddle close in Daddy’s coat
Beside the fire so bright,
And hear about the fairy folk
That wander in the night.
For when the stars are shining clear
And all the world is still
They float across the silver moon
From hill to cloudy hill.
Their caps of red, their clocks of green,
Are hung with silver bells,
And when they’re shaken with the [...]