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Children At Play

Topics: classic

I hear a merry noise indeed:      Is it the geese and ducks that take     Their first plunge in a quiet pond      That into scores of ripples break,     Or children make this merry sound?     I see an oak tree, its strong back      Could not be bent an inch though all     Its leaves were stone, or iron even:      A boy, with many a lusty call,     Rides on a bough bareback through Heaven.     I see two children dig a hole      And plant in it a cherry-stone:     "We'll come to-morrow," one child said,      "And then the tree will be full grown,     And all its boughs have cherries red."     Ah, children, what a life to lead:      You love the flowers, but when they're past     No flowers are missed by your bright eyes;      And when cold winter comes at last,     Snowflakes shall be your butterflies.

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"I hear a merry noise indeed:..."

William Henry Davies's contribution to classic is further solidified by the brilliance found in "Children At Play"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

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"My mind has thunderstorms,      That brood for hea..."

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