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 |  Poems that pursue the horizon from past to present and poems created for NaPoWriMo 2017 |
| Between the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day's occupations, That is known as the Children's Hour. I hear in the chamber above me The patter of little feet The sound of adore being opened And voices soft and sweet. From my study I see in the lamplight, Descending the broad hall stair, Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra, And Edith with golden hair. A whisper and then a silence: Yet I know by their merry eyes They are plotting and planning together To take me by surprise. A sudden rush from he stairway A sudden raid from the hall! By three doors left unguarded They enter my castle wall! They climb up into my turret O'er the arms and back of my chair; If I try to escape, they surround me; They seem to be everywhere. They almost devour me with kisses, Their arms about me entwine, Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine. Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti, Because you have scaled the wall, Such an old mustache as I am Is not a match for you all! I have you fast in my fortress, And will not let you depart, But put you down in the dungeon In the round-tower of my heart. And there will I keep you forever, Yes, forever and a day, Till the walls shall crumble to ruin, And moldering dust away. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) From: The Home Book of Verse by Burton Egbert Stevenson, 1917 ********************************************* Day 3 - "The Children's Hour"  is a favorite by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I memorized this poem for recitation in school and still recall most of it. Longfellow was an American poet born in Maine who died in Massachusetts. He was a prolific writer who contributed memorable poems to our culture. This site lets you browse through his collection: https://www.poemhunter.com/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/. This poem, for me, takes on new meaning and comes alive again, each time I read through it. It always, always takes me back to my childhood and my Mom. I love the happy suspense and surprise that Longfellow paints in this poem. |
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