In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people’s feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
Robert Louis Stevenson’s poems for children have that gift of simplicity which goes straight to the heart of the matter. This is the last week of the school holidays for New Zealand children. And I’m sure they want to make the most of these long hot summer nights. A little too hot for sleep sometimes! But before long it will be a lot cooler so I wish parents and children a wonderful week of warm and playful summer evenings, before the routines of school life return.
To read about Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850 -1894, and his life as a child, go here.
You can read more Tuesday Poems for today if you visit the Tuesday Poem site.
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