A Child's Garden of Verses

Think about what it was like to be a kid trying to fall asleep, full of energy and thoughts from the day?  Well, settle back and read the poems of Robert Louis Stevenson in his A Child’s Garden of Verses with special illustrations by Brian Wildsmith (which leaves nothing to your imagination!).  I can remember nights where I laid in the bed and had so many things running through my head from a day in the playground, hanging in the yard, or walking my dog Spot through the neighborhood but at night stories (read by my parents) brought me to another world, a world like the one that Stephenson creates in his book of poems.  The poems are exactly the right “length” – short verse – sometimes only 12 lines, all the way up to two pages, nothing longer.  The poems center around a little boy who experiences life through a detailed and brilliant lens.  Nature (the sun, the weather outside, the moon, rivers, and gardens) are the main foci that the young boy explores in his dreams while in bed.  The boy paints beautiful pictures always cognizant of his surroundings, while in bed sleeping, or traveling throughout the world.  The poems are so uplifting and positive, great to end your day.  For example, “Happy Thought”: “The world is full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be happy as kings.”  The poem on the boy not sure what to make of his growing shadow as the day goes on is one of my favorites where a child never is alone when he has a shadow following him.  Animals also play a big part in the poems: cows, birds, and bees float in  and out of the boys consciousness and all play a role in how he lives his life.  “Time to Rise” illustrates it best:” A birdie with a yellow bill hopped upon the window sill, cocked his shining eye and said: Ain’t you ‘shamed, you sleepy-head?”  Yes, there is a time to be awake but there is also a time to sleep and allow dreams to enter your world.  What a nice read…  I guess it’s time for a rest and pick this book of poems up.