Over the borders, a sin without pardon, Breaking the branches and crawling below, Out through the breach in the wall of the garden, Down by the banks of the river, we go. Here is the mill with the humming of thunder, Here is the weir with the wonder of foam, Here is the sluice with the race running under -- Marvellous places, though handy to home! Sounds of the village grow stiller and stiller, Stiller the note of the birds on the hill; Dusty and dim are the eyes of the miller, Deaf are his ears with the moil of the mill. Years may go by, and the wheel in the river Wheel as it wheels for us, children, to-day, Wheel and keep roaring and foaming for ever Long after all of the boys are away. Home from the Indies and home from the ocean, Heroes and soldiers we all shall come home; Still we shall [find]1 the old mill wheel in motion, Turning and churning [that]2 river to foam. You with the bean that I gave when we quarrelled, I with your marble of Saturday last, Honoured and old and all gaily apparelled, Here we shall meet and remember the past.
Robert Louis Stevenson Songs
Song Cycle by Ethel Crowningshield
?. Keepsake Mill  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Keepsake Mill", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Lehmann: "hear"
2 Lehmann: "the"
Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller
?. Bed in summer  [sung text not yet checked]
In winter I get up at night, And dress by yellow candle light. In summer, quite the other way, I have to go to bed by day. I have to go to bed and see The birds still hopping on the tree, Or hear the grown-up people's feet Still going past me in the street. And does it not seem hard to you, When all the sky is clear and blue, And I should like so much to play, To have to go to bed by day?
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Bed in summer", 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) , "Letto in estate", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
?. Young night thought  [sung text not yet checked]
All night long and every night, When my mama puts out the light, I see the people marching by, As plain as day, before my eye. Armies and [emperors]1 and kings, All carrying different kinds of things, And marching in so grand a way, You never saw the like by day. So fine a show was never seen At the great circus on the green; [For]2 every kind of beast and man Is marching in that caravan. At first they move a little slow, But still the faster on they go, And still beside [them]4 close I keep Until we reach the town of Sleep.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Young night thought", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
See other settings of this text.
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child’s Garden of Verses and Underwoods, New York: Current Literature, 1913.
1 Hadley: "emperor"2 omitted by F. Rzewski
4 Hadley: "me"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
?. Rain  [sung text not yet checked]
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
See other settings of this text.
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
?. Windy nights  [sung text not yet checked]
Whenever the moon and the stars are set, Whenever the wind is high, All night long in the dark and wet, A man goes riding by. Late in the night when the fires are out, Why does he gallop and gallop about? Whenever the trees are crying aloud, And ships are tossed at sea, By, on the highway, low and loud, By at the gallop goes he. By at the gallop he goes, and then By he comes back at the gallop again.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Windy nights", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Sylvain Labartette) , "Nuit venteuse", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
?. Block City  [sung text not yet checked]
What are you able to build with your blocks? Castles and palaces, temples and docks. Rain may keep raining, and others go roam, But I can be happy and building at home. Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea, There I'll establish a city for me: A kirk and a mill and a palace beside, And a harbour as well where my vessels may ride. Great is the palace with pillar and wall, A sort of a tower on the top of it all, And steps coming down in an orderly way To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay. This one is sailing and that one is moored: Hark to the song of the sailors aboard! And see, on the steps of my palace, the kings Coming and going with presents and things! Now I have done with it, down let it go! All in a moment the town is laid low. Block upon block lying scattered and free, What is there left of my town by the sea? Yet as I saw it, I see it again, The kirk and the palace, the ships and the men, And as long as I live and where'er I may be, I'll always remember my town by the sea.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Block City", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]?. The cow  [sung text not yet checked]
The friendly cow all red and white, I love with all my heart. She gives me cream with all her might, To eat with apple tart. She wanders lowing here and there, And yet she cannot stray, All in the pleasant open air, The pleasant light of day; And blown by all the winds that pass And wet with all the showers, She walks among the meadow grass And eats the meadow flowers.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "The cow", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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First published in Magazine of Art, July 1884Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller
?. Escape at bedtime  [sung text not yet checked]
The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out Through the blinds and the windows and bars; And high overhead and all moving about, There were thousands [of]1 millions of stars. There ne'er were such thousands of leaves on a tree, Nor of people in church or the Park, As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me, And that glittered and winked in the dark. The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all, And the star of the sailor, and Mars, These shone in the sky, and the pail by the wall Would be half full of water and stars. They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries, And they soon had me packed into bed; But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes, And the stars going round in my head.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Escape at bedtime", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Sylvain Labartette) , "Les étoiles", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Lehmann: "and"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]
?. The Lamplighter  [sung text not yet checked]
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
?. Farewell to the farm  [sung text not yet checked]
The coach is at the door at last; The eager children, mounting fast And kissing hands, in chorus sing: Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! To house and garden, field and lawn, The meadow-gates we swang upon, To pump and stable, tree and swing, Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! And fare you well for evermore, O ladder at the hayloft door, O hayloft where the cobwebs cling, Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! Crack goes the whip, and off we go; The trees and houses smaller grow; Last, round the woody turn we sing: Good-bye, good-bye, to everything!
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Farewell to the farm", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]?. The Land of Counterpane  [sung text not yet checked]
When I was sick and lay a-bed, I had two pillows at my head, And all my toys beside me lay, To keep me happy all the day. And sometimes for an hour or so I watched my leaden soldiers go, With different uniforms and drills, Among the bed-clothes, through the hills; And sometimes sent my ships in fleets All up and down among the sheets; Or brought my trees and houses out, And planted cities all about. I was the giant great and still That sits upon the pillow-hill, And sees before him, dale and plain, The pleasant land of counterpane.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "The Land of Counterpane", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
See other settings of this text.
First published in Magazine of Art, July 1884Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
?. The Land of Nod  [sung text not yet checked]
From breakfast on through all the day At home among my friends I stay, But every night I go abroad Afar into the land of Nod. All by myself I have to go, With none to tell me what to do -- All alone beside the streams And up the mountain-sides of dreams. The strangest things are these for me, Both things to eat and things to see, And many frightening sights abroad Till morning in the land of Nod. Try as I like to find the way, I never can get back by day, Nor can remember plain and clear The curious music that I hear.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "The Land of Nod", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
See other settings of this text.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]?. Marching song  [sung text not yet checked]
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
See other settings of this text.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]?. My shadow  [sung text not yet checked]
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed. The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow -- Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow; For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball, And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all. He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play, And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way. He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see; I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me! One morning, very early, before the sun was up, I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup; But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head, Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "My shadow", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]?. My ship and I  [sung text not yet checked]
O it's I that am the captain of a tidy little ship Of a ship that goes a sailing on the pond. And my ship it keeps a turning all around and all about, But when I'm a little older I shall find the secret out How to send my vessel sailing on beyond. For I mean to grow as little as the dolly on the helm And the dolly I intend to come alive And with him beside to help me it's a sailing I shall go, It's a sailing on the water where the jolly breezes blow And the vessel goes a divie divie dive. O it's then you'll see me sailing through the rushes and the reeds And you'll hear the water singing at the prow. For beside the dolly sailor I'm to voyage and explore To land upon the island where no dolly was before And I'll fire the penny cannon on the bow!
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "My ship and I", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Sylvain Labartette) , "Moi et mon bateau", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
?. My treasures  [sung text not yet checked]
These nuts, that I keep in the back of the nest, Where all my tin soldiers are lying at rest, Were gathered in Autumn by nursie and me In a wood with a well by the side of the sea. This whistle we made (and how clearly it sounds!) By the side of a field at the end of the grounds. Of a branch of a plane, with a knife of my own, It was nursie who made it, and nursie alone! The stone, with the white and the yellow and grey, We discovered I cannot tell how far away; And I carried it back although weary and cold, For though father denies it, I'm sure it is gold. But of all my treasures the last is the king, For there's very few children possess such a thing; And that is a chisel, both handle and blade, Which a man who was really a carpenter made.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "My treasures", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]?. Picture‑books in Winter  [sung text not yet checked]
Summer fading, winter comes Frosty mornings, tingling thumbs, Window robins, winter rooks, And the picture story books. Water now is turned to stone Nurse and I can walk upon; Still we find the flowing brooks In the picture story books. All the pretty things put by Wait upon the children's eye, Sheep and shepherds, trees and crooks, In the picture story books. We may see how all things are, Seas and cities, near and far, And the flying fairies' looks, In the picture story books. How can I to sing your praise, Happy chimney corner days, Sitting safe in nurs'ry nooks, Reading picture story books?
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Picture-books in Winter", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
See other settings of this text.
Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller?. Singing  [sung text not yet checked]
Of speckled eggs the birdie sings And nests among the trees; The sailor sings of ropes and things In ships upon the seas. The children sing in far Japan, The children sing in Spain; The organ with the organ man Is singing in the rain.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Singing", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]?. Time to rise  [sung text not yet checked]
A birdie with a yellow bill Hopped upon the window sill, Cocked his shining eye and said: "Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head?"
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Time to rise", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
See other settings of this text.
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
?. The unseen playmate  [sung text not yet checked]
When children are playing alone on the green, In comes the playmate that never was seen. When children are happy and lonely and good, The Friend of the Children comes out of the wood. Nobody heard him and nobody saw, His is a picture you never could draw, But he's sure to be present, abroad or at home, When children are happy and playing alone.
Authorship:
- by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "The unseen playmate", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885
See other settings of this text.
Researcher for this page: Barbara Miller