My shadow | I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me

I have a little shadow that goes in and...

Language: English

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.

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Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "My shadow", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885 [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 Mark Andrews (1875 - 1939), "My shadow", published 1911 [ voice and piano ], from Nine songs from "A Child's Garden of Verse" [sung text not yet checked]
by Norah Blaney , "My shadow", published 1918 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by William Bradley , "My shadow", published 1914 [ unison chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Thomas Crawford , "My shadow", published 1915 [ voice and piano ], from Songs with Music from "A Child's Garden of Verses", no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ethel Crowningshield , "My shadow", published 1910 [ voice and piano ], from Robert Louis Stevenson Songs [sung text not yet checked]
by Edward Falk , "My shadow", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ], from A Child's Garden of Verses [sung text not yet checked]
by Caroline Susan Theodora Grosvenor (1858 - 1940?), "My shadow", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ], from Six songs from "A Child's Garden of Verses" [sung text not yet checked]
by Henry Kimball Hadley (1871 - 1937), "My shadow", op. 29 no. 1, published 1903 [ voice and piano ], from Four Stevenson Songs, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Mabel Wood Hill (1870 - 1954), "My shadow", published c1902 [ voice and piano ], from Seven songs of Stevenson, no. 6, Cincinnati: J. Church Co. [sung text not yet checked]
by Liza Lehmann (1862 - 1918), "My shadow", published 1902 [ voice or vocal quartet and piano ], from More daisies: new songs of childhood, no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
by Franco Leoni (1864 - 1949), "My shadow", published 1908 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Oskar Morawetz (b. 1917), "My shadow", 1972 [ soprano and piano ], from A child's garden of verses [sung text not yet checked]
by Marvin Radnor , "My shadow", published 1923 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Homer Samuels , "My shadow", published 1919 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Thomas Griffen (Griffin?) Shepard (1848 - 1905), "My shadow", published 1901 [ voice and piano ], from A cycle of songs [sung text not yet checked]
by Eleanor Smith , "The shadow", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ], from Song Pictures [sung text not yet checked]
by Arthur Somervell, Sir (1863 - 1937), "My shadow", published 1911 [ voice and piano ], from The Twins' Tune Book, no. 9 [sung text not yet checked]
by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "My shadow", op. 30 no. 6, published 1892 [ unison chorus and piano ], from A Child's Garland of Songs, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ward Stephens (1872 - 1940), "My shadow", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Joseph Wardale , "My shadow", published 1963 [ unison chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by John Brown Russell Whitfield , "My shadow", published 1958 [ unison chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-12-07
Line count: 16
Word count: 187