The Starlight Express

O children, open your arms to me,
Let your hair fall over my eyes;
Let me sleep a moment - and then awake
In your Garden of sweet Surprise!
For the grown up folk 
Are a wearisome folk,
And they laugh all my fancies to scorn,
They laugh all my fancies to scorn

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 brushes the fringe of their lace-veined lids?
Who trims their innocent light?
Who draws up the blinds when the sun peeps in?
Who fastens them down at night?
 ... 

O children, I pray you speak 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!

There's a Fairy that hides in the beautiful eyes
Of the children who treat her well;
In the little round hole where the eyeball lies
She weaves her magical spell.

She is awfully tiny and shy to the sight,
But her magic's past believing,
For she fills you with light and with laughter,
It's the spell of her own sweet weaving.

But! -- the eyes must be blue,
And the heart must be true,
And the child must be better than gold!
And then if you'll let her,
The quicker the better,
She'll make you forget that you're old.
 ... 

So if such a child you should chance to see,
Or with such a child to play,
No matter how tired or dull you be,
Nor how many tons you weigh,
You will suddenly find that you're young again,
And your movements  ...  light and airy,
And you'll try to be solemn and stiff in vain -
It's the Spell of the Blue-Eyes fairy!

 ... 

    The sun has gone;
The tide of stars is setting all our way,
The Pleiades call softly to Orion,
As nightly they have called these million years;
The children lie asleep; now let them out,
    And, over-hearing,
We waft the fairy call into your dreams,
That you may swim upon that tide of gold
And list'ning in your hearts,
    Just over-hear
That deep tremendous thunder
    Signalling reply:
    All's well!
Orion answering the Pleiades!

    (laughs)
    I'm everywhere,
The universal solvent of despair,
    (laughs)
Ah! that sings away the half
Of ev'ry care because I laugh!
    I laugh

Wake up, you little Night Winds :
    Blow your best !
    We want you all -
Ha-ha! that's East and West,
    The North Wind too,
She always blows the strongest:
You all must draw your deepest breath and longest,
    With open mouth!

Now go and blow the Haystack out of bed!
Whistle her dreams of straw across the sky
And whirl her canvas skirts about her head -
    You can but try!
Go, sweep her to'ards the Cave, and break her trance:
Thick Mother of the Sprites -
    She must get in:
Even a Haystack's elephantine dance
    Is somewhere thin!
    Is somewhere thin!

Oh! stars shine brightly!
He's sleeping tightly !
    His pattern's pouring through!

Oh! Sprites come swiftly!
Unwumble deftly!
The world has need of you!
They'll listen to my song
    And understand
That, exiled over long,
    From Fairyland,
The weary world has rather lost its way!
    Rather lost its way!
    My secret's double,
    For tears of trouble
Are really tears of laughter gone astray.

    We shall meet the morning spiders,
    The fairy cotton riders,
Each mounted, each mounted on a star's reflected ray.
    With their tiny nets of feather.
    They collect our thoughts together,
And on strips of windy weather bring the Day,
And on strips of windy weather bring the Day!

My old tunes are rather broken, 
And they come from far away,
Bringing just a little token
Of a long-forgotten day;

When the children came to listen,
T'other side the garden fence,
And my heart leapt out of prison,
At the gift of seven-pence!

Just beyond the haystack's shadow,
Long ago that leafy June,
How they danced about the meadow
At the risin' of the moon!

While from out a railway carriage,
Standing ready and alight,
Stepped their guests as to a marriage
Asked to dine and stay the night!

Sweep and Laugher danced together,
And a man who had a lamp 
Capered lightly as a feather
With a lazy-looking tramp;

When a voice disturbed the Lancers:
"Children, come, it's time for bed"
Railway carriages, Sprites and Dancers
Flew up to the stars instead!

Now I am a Constellation,
Free from ev'ry earthly care,
Playing nightly at my station
For the Big and Little Bear.

But my tunes are still entrancing
As that night in leafy June,
When I caught the children dancing
With the Sprites beneath the moon!

Still the children come to hear me
In the lane or dingy street;
Still the heavy pavement near me
Flutters to their happy feet;

For my tunes are ne'er forgotten,
And they bring the scent of musk:
Grown up folk may call 'em rotten,
But I'm looked for when it's dusk!

Dandelions, daffodils,
    Sheets of yaller roses,
Goldenrods and Marigolds,
    Buttercups for posies!

Laugh a little ev'ry day
At yourself, that is to say.
    Plan it, seed it.
    Millions want it.
    Hark! Their dreams
    Have split the seams.

They're all soft-shiny now
    The time draws near;
Their hearts are dusted
    And the path's swept clear!
The tide of stars is setting all one way,
Bring on the dawn - yet not the dawn of day!

Oh, think Beauty,
It's your duty.
    Ev'ry loving gentle thought
    Of this fairy brilliance wrought.
While the busy Pleiades,
Sisters to the Hyades,
    Seven by seven,
    Across the Heaven.

Soprano:

Dustman, Laugher, Tramp and busy Sweep,
    Head Gardener too,
The world now waking from her heavy sleep
    Has need of You!
Gypsy, Lampman, come! take of our best,
    Our sweetest dust
And sow earth's little gardens of unrest
    With joy and trust -
For ev'ry hour
    A golden flower,
For ev'ry hour
    A golden flower,
Love, Laughter, Courage, Hope, and all the

Soprano and Baritone

( rest - - - - - -. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .)
( Hearts must be soft-shiny dressed )

( . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .)
( With your softest, sweetest )

( With your softest, sweetest best. )
( best - - - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . )
   
( Dust, that comes from very )
( . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . )

( far. Ah! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)
( Daddy's pattern, heart and brain )

( - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -)
( Sprinkle with the golden, golden )

( Hearts must be soft-shiny dressed . .)
( rain, with your softest, sweetest best )

( With your softest, sweetest golden dust! )
( - - dust, With your softest, sweetest, . . . )

( For the rising of the star.)
( For the rising of the star.)