by Algernon Blackwood (1869 - 1951)
O children, open your arms to me
Language: English
O children, open your arms to me, Let your hair fall over my eyes; Let me sleep a moment - and then awake In your [Gardens]1 of sweet Surprise! For the grown up folk Are a wearisome folk, And they laugh all my fancies to scorn, [My fun and my fancies to scorn]2 O children, open your hearts to me, And tell me your wonder-thoughts. Who lives in the palace inside your brain? Who plays in its outer courts? Who hides in the hours To-morrow holds? Who sleeps in your Yesterdays? Who tiptoes along past the curtained folds Of the shadow that Twilight lays? O children, open your eyes to me, And tell me your visions too; Who squeezes the sponge when the salt tears flow To dim their magical blue? [Who draws up the blinds when the sun peeps in? Who fastens them down at night?]3 Who brushes the fringe of their lace-veined lids? Who trims their innocent light? [Then, children, I beg you, sing]4 low to me, And cover my eyes with your hands. O kiss me again till I sleep and dream That I'm lost in your Fairylands; For the grown up folk Are a troublesome folk, And the book of their childhood is torn! Is blotted, and crumpled, and torn!
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Elgar: "Garden"
2 Elgar: "They laugh all my fancies to scorn"
3 Elgar has moved these to the end of the stanza.
4 Elgar: "O children, I pray you speak"
Authorship:
- by Algernon Blackwood (1869 - 1951), no title, appears in A Prisoner in Fairyland, Chapter XIV, first published 1913 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Edward Elgar, Sir (1857 - 1934), "To the children", op. 78 no. 1 (1915), first performed 1915 [baritone and piano], from The Starlight Express, no. 1. [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 214