Poetry Friday: The Story of the Treasure Seekers

Today's poetry Friday entry comes courtesy of "a lady in spectacles in the corner" of a train in Chapter 4 of Edith Nesbit's The Story of the Treasure Seekers. This poem was written for a boy, and seemed fitting in light of my current focus on the list of cool boys of children's literature.

"Oh when I wake up in my bed
And see the sun all fat and red,
I'm glad to have another day
For all my different kinds of play.

There are so many things to do --
The things that make a man of you,
If grown-ups did not get so vexed
And wonder what you will do next.

I often wonder whether they
Ever made up our kinds of play --
If they were always good as gold
And only did what they were told.

They like you best to play with tops
And toys in boxes, bought in shops;
They do not even know the names
Of really interesting games.

They will not let you play with fire
Or trip your sister up with wire,
They grudge the tea-tray for a drum,
Or booby-traps when callers come.

They don't like fishing, and it's true
You sometimes soak a suit or two:
They look on fireworks, though they're dry,
With quite a disapproving eye.

They do not understand the way
To get the most out of your day:
They do not know how hunger feels
Nor what you need between your meals.

And when you're sent to bed at night
They're happy, but they're not polite,
For through the door you hear them say:
'He's done his mischief for the day!'"

UPDATE: Here are some other Poetry Friday entries for this week. There are a bunch of new to me entrants this time, several of whom I found through A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy (thanks, Liz!).

• Liz from A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy has Pablo Neruda's Dead Woman (La Muerta), translated by Donald D. Walsh
• Kelly Fineman has some Found Poetry, "Text discovered in a nonpoetic setting, removed from its context, and presented as a poem."
• Susan Taylor Brown has a birthday poem. Happy Birthday, Susan!!
• Poetry Muse has a poem by Sharon Lovejoy called Grandmother's Garden.
• Lawrence Schimel has a short original work called Robert's Rules of Disorder.
• Sprite Writes offers a lovely poem by Robert Frost about lightning bugs.
• By Sun and Candlelight has a sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
• Wendy at Blog from the Windowsill has a remembered childhood poem.
• Leila proclaims a weekly Haiku contest at bookshelves of doom. Be sure to check out the many contributions in the comments.
• Becky over at Farm School has a fun poem about long summer evenings. My thanks also to Becky for her kind words yesterday about the Cool Boys of Children's Literature.
• Little Willow has Cats Sleep Anywhere by Eleanor Farjeon.
• I don't see anything from Gregory K. at Gotta Book today, but he did have a Beach Fib a couple of days ago that's worth checking out. The last line is my the fun part.
• MotherReader reviews and excepts a new picture book called Down the Back of the Chair.
• Michele from Scholar's Blog attempts to combat the heat wave in England with poems about winter, starting with some A. A. Milne.

That's all for now! Let me know if I missed you, and have a great weekend.