Short Poems

The icehouse keeper —
how often he dreams
of sunlight streaming in

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

If medals were ordained for drinks,
Or soft communings with a minx,
Or being at your ease belated,
By Heavens, you'd be decorated.
And not Alcmena's chesty son
Have room to put your ribbands on!

If I should labor through daylight and dark,
Consecrate, valorous, serious, true,
Then on the world I may blazon my mark;
And what if I don't, and what if I do?

If I were a cassowary
On the plains of Timbuctoo,
I would eat a missionary,
Cassock, bands and hymn-book too.

If I'd as much money as I could spend,
I never would cry, Old chairs to mend.
Old chairs to mend! Old chairs to mend!
I never would cry, Old chairs to mend.

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight;
But if it be dark with clouds and rain,
Winter is gone, and will not come again.

If at your coming princes disappear,
Comets! come every day—and stay a year.

I'd Rather have Fingers than Toes;
I'd Rather have Eyes than a Nose;
And As for my hair,
I'm Glad it's all there;
I'll be Awfully Sad, when it Goes!

I'd like to run like a rabbit in hops
With occasional intermediate stops.
He is so cute when he lifts his ears
And looks around to see what he hears.