Green Glass Beads Read online

  She work’d for the Poor,

  Till her fingers were sore;

  This pious Old Woman of Leeds.

  Anon.

  LOVE

  The Janitor’s Boy

  Oh I’m in love with the janitor’s boy,

  And the janitor’s boy loves me;

  He’s going to hunt for a desert isle

  In our geography.

  A desert isle with spicy trees

  Somewhere near Sheepshead Bay;

  A right nice place, just fit for two

  Where we can live alway.

  Oh I’m in love with the janitor’s boy,

  He’s busy as he can be;

  And down in the cellar he’s making a raft

  Out of an old scttee.

  He’ll carry me off, I know that he will,

  For his hair is exceedingly red;

  And the only thing that occurs to me

  Is to dutifully shiver in bed.

  The day that we sail, I shall leave this brief note,

  For my parents I hate to annoy:

  ‘I have flown away to an isle in the bay

  With the janitor’s red-haired boy.’

  Nathalia Crane

  Romance

  I will make you brooches and toys for your delight

  Of bird-song at morning and star-shine at night.

  I will make a palace fit for you and me,

  Of green days in forests and blue days at sea.

  I will make my kitchen, and you shall keep your room,

  Where white flows the river and bright blows the broom,

  And you shall wash your linen and keep your body white

  In rainfall at morning and dewfall at night.

  And this shall be for music when no one else is near,

  The fine song for singing, the rare song to hear!

  That only I remember, that only you admire,

  Of the broad road that stretches and the roadside fire.

  Robert Louis Stevenson

  Expecting Visitors

  I heard you were coming and

  Thrum thrum thrum

  Went something in my heart like a

  Drum drum drum.

  I briskly walked down the

  Street street street

  To buy lovely food for us to

  Eat eat eat.

  I cleaned the house and filled it with

  Flowers flowers flowers

  And asked the sun to drink up the

  Showers showers showers.

  Steadily purring

  Thrum, thrum, thrum

  Went the drum in my heart because

  You’d come, come, come.

  Jenny Joseph

  The Twelve Days of Christmas

  On the first day of Christmas

  my true love sent to me:

  A partridge in a pear tree

  On the second day of Christmas

  my true love sent to me:

  Two turtle doves

  and a partridge in a pear tree

  On the third day of Christmas

  my true love sent to me:

  Three French hens

  Two turtle doves

  and a partridge in a pear tree

  On the fourth day of Christmas

  my true love sent to me:

  Four calling birds

  Three French hens

  Two turtle doves

  and a partridge in a pear tree

  On the fifth day of Christmas

  my true love sent to me:

  Five gold rings

  Four calling birds

  Three French hens

  Two turtle doves

  and a partridge in a pear tree

  On the sixth day of Christmas

  my true love sent to me:

  Six geese a-laying

  Five gold rings

  Four calling birds

  Three French hens

  Two turtle doves

  and a partridge in a pear tree

  On the seventh day of Christmas

  my true love sent to me:

  Seven swans a-swimming

  Six geese a-laying

  Five gold rings

  Four calling birds

  Three French hens

  Two turtle doves

  and a partridge in a pear tree

  On the eighth day of Christmas,

  my true love sent to me:

  Eight maids a-milking

  Seven swans a-swimming

  Six geese a-laying

  Five gold rings

  Four calling birds

  Three French hens

  Two turtle doves

  And a partridge in a pear tree

  On the ninth day of Christmas,

  my true love sent to me:

  Nine ladies dancing

  Eight maids a-milking

  Seven swans a-swimming

  Six geese a-laying

  Five gold rings

  Four calling birds

  Three French hens

  Two turtle doves

  And a partridge in a pear tree

  On the tenth day of Christmas,

  my true love sent to me:

  Ten lords a-leaping

  Nine ladies dancing

  Eight maids a-milking

  Seven swans a-swimming

  Six geese a-laying

  Five gold rings

  Four calling birds

  Three French hens

  Two turtle doves

  And a partridge in a pear tree

  On the eleventh day of Christmas,

  my true love sent to me:

  Eleven pipers piping

  Ten lords a-leaping

  Nine ladies dancing

  Eight maids a-milking

  Seven swans a-swimming

  Six geese a-laying

  Five gold rings

  Four calling birds

  Three French hens

  Two turtle doves

  And a partridge in a pear tree

  On the twelfth day of Christmas

  my true love sent to me:

  Twelve drummers drumming

  Eleven pipers piping

  Ten lords a-leaping

  Nine ladies dancing

  Eight maids a-milking

  Seven swans a-swimming

  Six geese a-laying

  Five gold rings

  Four calling birds

  Three French hens

  Two turtle doves

  and a partridge in a pear tree

  Anon.

  Dear True Love

  Leaping and dancing

  Means to-ing and fro-ing;

  Drummers and pipers –

  Loud banging and blowing;

  Even a pear tree

  Needs room to grow in.

  Goose eggs and gold top

  When I’m trying to slim?

  And seven swans swimming?

  Where could they swim?

  Mine is a small house,

  Your gifts are grand;

  One ring at a time

  Is enough for this hand.

  Hens, colly birds, doves –

  A gastronome’s treat.

  But love, I did tell you,

  I’ve given up meat.

  Your fairy-tale presents

  Are wasted on me.

  Just send me your love

  And set all the birds free.

  U. A. Fanthorpe

  Indoor Games near Newbury

  In among the silver birches,

  Winding ways of tarmac wander

  And the signs to Bussock Bottom,

  Tussock Wood and Windy Brake,

  Gabled lodges, tile-hung churches

  Catch the lights of our Lagonda

  As we drive to Wendy’s party,

  Lemon curd and Christmas cake

  Rich the makes of motor whirring,

  Past the pine plantation purring

  Come up Hupmobile Delage.

  Short the way our ch