The Unseen
Playmates
When
children are playing alone on the green,
In come
the playmates that never were seen.
When
children are happy and lonely and good,
The
Friends of the Children come out of the wood.
Nobody
heard them, and nobody saw,
They
are a picture you never could draw,
But
they're sure to be present, abroad or at home,
When
children are happy and playing alone.
They lie
in the laurels, they run on the grass,
They sing
when you tinkle the musical glass;
When e'er
you are happy and cannot tell why,
The
Friends of the Children are sure to be by!
They love
to be little, they hate to be big,
'Tis
they that inhabit the caves that you dig;
'Tis
they when you play with your soldiers of tin
That
side with the Frenchmen and never can win.
'Tis
they, when at night you go off to your bed,
Bid
you go to sleep and not trouble your head;
For
wherever they're lying, in cupboard or shelf,
'Tis
they will take care of your playthings themselves!
~ Adapted from Robert
Louis Stevenson~
(A Child's
Garden of Verses)
