I came across this site on one of my random blog searches and immediately ordered one for my boy's bathroom. The french freak in me paused on the Paris map. Yet, as a serious lover of NYC, I knew what to do. I want my boys to know New York City like the back of their hand. I grew up with poems framed in our bathroom, and guess what, I still have them memorized. So now I need to come up with some great poems, to go along with this map. I love poetry, so this task is a little daunting. I would seriously love to know your favorite childhood poems. The ones that make you dream. Here is one, of the poems I memorized, from my time sitting on the LOO.
The Swing
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside-
Til I look down on the garden green
Down on the roof so brown-
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Fieldmouse
ReplyDelete~Cecil Frances Alexander
Where the acorn tumbles down,
Where the ash tree sheds its berry,
With your fur so soft and brown,
With your eye so round and merry,
Scarcely moving the long grass,
Fieldmouse, I can see you pass.
Little thing, in what dark den,
Lie you all the winter sleeping?
Till warm weather comes again,
Then once more I see you peeping
Round about the tall tree roots,
Nibbling at their fallen fruits.
Fieldmouse, fieldmouse, do not go,
Where the farmer stacks his treasure,
Find the nut that falls below,
Eat the acorn at your pleasure,
But you must not steal the grain
He has stacked with so much pain.
Make your hole where mosses spring,
Underneath the tall oak's shadow,
Pretty, quiet harmless thing,
Play about the sunny meadow.
Keep away from corn and house,
None will harm you, little mouse.
What about Mannahatta by Walt Whitman? Here it is...
ReplyDeleteMannahatta
I was asking for something specific and perfect for my city,
Whereupon lo! upsprang the aboriginal name.
Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly,
musical, self-sufficient,
I see that the word of my city is that word from of old,
Because I see that word nested in nests of water-bays, superb,
Rich, hemm'd thick all around with sailships and steamships, an
island sixteen miles long, solid-founded,
Numberless crowded streets, high growths of iron, slender, strong,
light, splendidly uprising toward clear skies,
Tides swift and ample, well-loved by me, toward sundown,
The flowing sea-currents, the little islands, larger adjoining
islands, the heights, the villas,
The countless masts, the white shore-steamers, the lighters, the
ferry-boats, the black sea-steamers well-model'd,
The down-town streets, the jobbers' houses of business, the houses
of business of the ship-merchants and money-brokers, the
river-streets,
Immigrants arriving, fifteen or twenty thousand in a week,
The carts hauling goods, the manly race of drivers of horses, the
brown-faced sailors,
The summer air, the bright sun shining, and the sailing clouds aloft,
The winter snows, the sleigh-bells, the broken ice in the river,
passing along up or down with the flood-tide or ebb-tide,
The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-form'd,
beautiful-faced, looking you straight in the eyes,
Trottoirs throng'd, vehicles, Broadway, the women, the shops and shows,
A million people--manners free and superb--open voices--hospitality--
the most courageous and friendly young men,
City of hurried and sparkling waters! city of spires and masts!
City nested in bays! my city!
Wow Lee- thank you! I didn't know that one and that will definitely be one of them. I hope to take my son in November to celebrate his turning double digits and he could illustrate it for me. thanks again, Nan
ReplyDeleteNan, I too learned poetry sitting, playing, hanging in front of the mirror, etc. in my grandmother's bathrooms. I never thought of that until you said it here! Call me COPYCAT!! I have a project now. I have been staring at this blank canvas to paint...now it can be covered in poetry for the girls. Thanks!!
ReplyDelete