Katherine Mansfield

There is a solemn wind to-night
That sings of solemn rain;
The trees that have been quiet so long
Flutter and start again.The slender trees, the heavy trees,…

Last night for the first time since you were dead
I walked with you, my brother, in a dream.
We were at home again beside the stream
Fringed with tall berry bushes, white and red.…

But then there comes that moment
When, for no cause that I can find,
The little voices of the
Sound above all the sea and wind.

To and fro, to and fro
In my little boat I go
Sailing far across the sea
All alone, just little me.…

I saw a tiny
Under a bright blue
That had white
And forked ribs of gold.

A Gulf of silence separates us from each other.
I stand at one side of the gulf, you at the other.
I cannot see you or hear you, yet know that you are there.
Often I call you by your childish name…

Cabbage tree, cabbage tree, what is the matter?
Why are you shaking so? Why do you chatter?
Because it is just a white baby you see,
And it’s the black ones you like, cabbage tree?Cabbage tree, cabbage tree, you’re a strange fellow…

The
Walked out into the
And splashed in all the pubbles
She had such shocking

I climbed up the karaka
Into a nest all made of
But soft as feathers.
I made up a song that went on singing all by

My Babbles has a nasty knack
Of keeping monkeys on her back.
A great big black one comes and swings
Right on her sash or pinny strings.…

I wish I had not got a cold,
The wind is big and wild,
I wish that I was very old,
Not just a little child.Somehow the day is very long…

In the middle of our porridge plates
There was a blue butterfly painted
And each morning we tried who should reach the
butterfly first.…

Now this is the story of
Who ages and ages
Lived right on the top of a mountain,
A mountain all covered with snow.

Out in the garden,
Out in the windy, swinging dark,
Under the trees and over the flower-beds,
Over the grass and under the hedge border,

The gulls are mad-in-love with the river,
And the river unveils her face and smiles.
In her sleep-brooding eyes they mirror their shining wings.
She lies on silver pillows: the sun leans over her.

Most merciful
Look kindly
An impudent
Who wants sitting on.

There was a man lived quite near us;
He had a wooden leg and a goldfinch in a green cage.
His name was Farkey Anderson,
And he’d been in a war to get his leg.…

(O little white feet of mine)
Out in the storm and the rain you fly;
(Red, red shoes the colour of wine)
Can the children hear my cry?(O little white feet of mine)…

Sing a song of men’s pyjamas,
Half-past-six has got a pair,
And he’s wearing them this evening,
And he’s looking such a dear.Sing a song of frocks with pockets…

That deaf old
With his hand to his ear—His hand to hi head stood out like a shell,
Horny and hollow.  He said, "I can't hear,"He muttered, "Don't shout,
I can hear very well!"He mumbled, "I can't catch a word;

Baby Babbles—only one,
Now to sit up has begun.
Little Babbles quite turned
Walks as well as I and you.

Shadow children, thin and small,
Now the day is left behind,
You are dancing on the wall,
On the curtains, on the blind.

The further the little girl leaped and ran,
The further she longed to be;
The white, white fields of jonquil flowers
Danced up as high as her knee…

After all the rain, the sun
Shines on hill and grassy mead;
Fly into the garden, child,
You are very glad indeed.For the days have been so dull,…