A Child's Garden



R. L. Stevenson

Now there is nothing wrong with me
Except -- I think it's called T.B.
And that is why I have to lay
Out in the garden all the day.

Our garden is not very wide
And cars go by on either side,
And make an angry-hooty noise
That rather startles little boys.

But worst of all is when they take
Me out in cars that growl and shake,
With charabancs so dreadful-near
I have to shut my eyes for fear.

But when I'm on my back again,
I watch the Croydon aeroplane
That flies across to France, and sings
Like hitting thick piano-strings.

When I am strong enough to do
The things I'm truly wishful to,
I'll never use a car or train
But always have an aeroplane;

And just go zooming round and round,
And frighten Nursey with the sound,
And see the angel-side of clouds,
And spit on all those motor-crowds!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 10, 2023

48 sec read
273

Quick analysis:

Scheme A BBCC DDEE FFGG HAII JJHA KKLL
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 791
Words 159
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Rudyard Kipling

 · 1865 · Mumbai

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist chiefly remembered for his tales and poems of British soldiers in India and his tales for children. more…

All Rudyard Kipling poems | Rudyard Kipling Books

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    "A Child's Garden" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/33112/a-child's-garden>.

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    Who wrote the 1892 poem Gunga Din?
    A Ho Xuan Huong
    B Alfred, Lord Tennyson
    C Walt Whitman
    D Rudyard Kipling