Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ETHELBERT'S 'COMING HOME IN THE DARK', by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ETHELBERT'S 'COMING HOME IN THE DARK', by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Did I tell you how we went to tea
Last Line: At what we told him, willie and I.
Subject(s): Children; Parents; Childhood; Parenthood


DID I tell you how we went to tea,
All by ourselves, with kind Mrs B.?
And how we came home in the dark so late,
I think it was nearly half-past eight!
We liked the tea, and all the rest,
But coming home in the dark was best,—
Best of all! oh, it was such fun,
The nicest thing we have ever done.
Nurse took Willie, and Bertha took me,—
Bertha is such a great girl, you see;
She sometimes says to us, Now, little boys,
Don't you make such a dreadful noise,
You will wake little Sybil with all your riot!'
And then we have to be—oh, so quiet!
She is nearly eight, and ever so tall
But Willie and I are not very small;
We are six years old, and our birthdays came
Both on one day, the very same;
So people say we are little twins,
And as much alike as two little pins.
And Papa likes having a pair of boys,
Although we make such a dreadful noise;
'Much more amusing,' we heard him say,
'Than a couple of odd ones, any day!'
It was only so very dark down below
Along the lane where the blackberries grow,
For the little stars were out in the sky,
And we laughed to see them, Willie and I,
For they twinkled away, so quick and bright,
I think they were laughing at us that night.
A bright one got up from behind a tree,
And peeped at Bertha and Willie and me;
And round the corner we saw another
Playing at hide-and-seek with his brother,
Popping out from a cloud, and then
Running behind it to hide again.
And then the kind little Moon came out
To take care of the Stars as they played about;
She looked so quiet and good, we thought
That perhaps they went to her school to be taught,
And to learn from her how to shine so bright;
But Grandmamma told us we did not guess right,
For the Moon goes to school herself to the Sun:
Do you think she meant it only in fun?
Then all of a sudden the Wind ran by,
And flow up to kiss the Stars in the sky;
He tucked them up, and said good-night,
And drew the curtain round them tight.
That was a great dark cloud, you see,
That hid the Stars from Willie and me.
I think they were sorry to go to bed,
For they did not look tired at all, we said;
And one or two of them tried to peep;
But very soon they were all asleep,
For the Wind kept singing their lullaby,
And we felt quite vexed with him, Willie and I.
I think the Moon asked if she might not stay
To light us a little bit more of the way,
But he whistled quite loud, and we thought he said,
'No, no, no! you must go to bed!'
The good little Moon did what she was bid,
And under the curtain her pretty face hid;
And then it got darker and darker still;
Nurse said she was setting behind the hill.
So perhaps she was tired, and glad to go;
It's a long way across the sky, you know.
We were not afraid, but we did not talk
As we came along the avenue walk;
And we did not quite like looking back,
For the pretty green trees were all quite black.
But I whispered to Willie that God was there,
And we need not be frightened, for He would take care.
And then all at once we saw the light
In the dining-room window, ever so bright;
And up we came through the little gate,—
Oh, it was so nice to come home so late:
And then we gave a famous shout,
For dear Mamma herself came out
To meet us, just as we got to the door;
But she had not expected us home before.
And then we took it by turns to talk,
And tell them about the tea and the walk;
And Papa did laugh so,—we wondered why!
At what we told him, Willie and I.





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