Poetic Tides Through Time

The Children's Hour

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.