A birdie with a yellow bill Hopped upon the window sill, Cocked his shining eye and said: "Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head?"
From a child's garden
Song Cycle by Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson (1931 - 2003)
1. Time to rise  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Time to rise", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Ora di alzarsi", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
2. Marching song  [sung text checked 1 time]
Bring the comb and play upon it! Marching, here we come! Willie cocks his highland bonnet, Johnnie beats the drum. Mary Jane commands the party, Peter leads the rear; Feet in time, alert and hearty, Each a Grenadier! All in the most martial manner Marching double-quick; While the napkin like a banner Waves upon the stick! Here's enough of fame and pillage, Great commander Jane! Now that we've been round the village, Let's go home again.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Marching song", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]3. Where go the boats?  [sung text checked 1 time]
Dark brown is the river, Golden is the sand. It flows along for ever, With trees on either hand. Green leaves a-floating, Castles of the foam, Boats of mine a-boating - Where will all come home? On goes the river And out past the mill, Away down the valley, Away down the hill. Away down the river, A hundred miles or more, Other little children Shall bring my boats ashore.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Where go the boats?", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Paolo Montanari) , "Dove vanno le barche?", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
4. Looking forward  [sung text checked 1 time]
When I am grown to man's estate I shall be very proud and great, And tell the other girls and boys Not to meddle with my toys.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Looking forward", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Paolo Montanari) , "Pensando al futuro", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
5. Whole duty of children  [sung text checked 1 time]
A child should always say what's true And speak when he is spoken to, And behave mannerly at table: At least as far as he is able.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Whole duty of children", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "I doveri di ogni bambino", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
6. The flowers  [sung text checked 1 time]
All the names I know from nurse: Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse, Bachelor's buttons, Lady's smock, And the Lady Hollyhock, Fairy places, fairy things, Fairy woods where the wild bee wings, Tiny trees for tiny dames - These must all be fairy names! Tiny woods below whose boughs Shady fairies weave a house; Tiny tree-tops, rose or thyme, Where the braver fairies climb! Fair are grown-up people's trees, But the fairest woods are these; Where if I were not so tall, I should live for good and all.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "The flowers", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]7. Rain  [sung text checked 1 time]
The rain is raining all around, It falls on field and tree, It rains on the umbrellas here, And on the ships at sea.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Rain", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Anyi Sharma) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Paolo Montanari) , "Pioggia", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
8. My bed is a boat  [sung text checked 1 time]
My bed is like a little boat; Nurse helps me in when I embark; She girds me in my sailor's coat And starts me in the dark. At night, I go on board and say Good night to all my friends on shore; I shut my eyes and sail away And see and hear no more. And sometimes things to bed I take, As prudent sailors have to do: Perhaps a slice of wedding-cake, Perhaps a toy or two. All night across the dark we steer: But when the day returns at last, Safe in my room, beside the pier, I find my vessel fast.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "My bed is a boat", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Paolo Montanari) , "Il mio letto è una nave", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
9. From a railway carriage  [sung text checked 1 time]
Faster than fairies, faster than witches, Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches; And charging [along]1 like troops in a battle, All through the meadows the horses and cattle: All of the sights of the hill and the plain Fly as thick as driving rain; And ever again, in the wink of an eye, Painted stations whistle by. Here is a child who clambers and scrambles, All by himself and gathering brambles; Here is a tramp who stands and gazes; And there is the green for stringing the daisies! Here is a cart run away in the road Lumping along with man and load; And here is a mill and there is a river: Each a glimpse and gone for ever!
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "From a railway carriage", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Morawetz, Williamson: "alone" (?) (needs re-checking)
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
10. The Lamplighter  [sung text checked 1 time]
My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky; It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by; For every night at teatime and before you take your seat, With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street. Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea, And my papa's a banker and as rich as he can be; But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do, O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you! For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door, And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more; And O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light, O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "The Lamplighter", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Paolo Montanari) , "Il lampionaio", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
11. A good boy  [sung text checked 1 time]
I woke before the morning, I was happy all the day, I never said an ugly word, but smiled and stuck to play. And now at last the sun is going down behind the wood, And I am very happy, for I know that I've been good. My bed is waiting cool and fresh, with linen smooth and fair, And I must off to sleep again, and not forget my prayer. I know that, till tomorrow I shall see the sun arise, No ugly dream shall fright my mind, no ugly sight my eyes, But slumber hold me tightly till I waken in the dawn, And hear the thrushes singing in the lilacs round the lawn.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "A good boy", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Sylvain Labartette) , "Un gentil garçon", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
12. Happy thought  [sung text checked 1 time]
The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Happy thought", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Paolo Montanari) , "Pensiero felice", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission