Children's Poetry: Two For the Stairs

A Man Who Wasn't There

Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today
Oh how I wish he'd go away.

---William Hughes Mearns, in Antigonish. There are several versions of this poem, but this is how it was originally penned by Professor Hearns.

Halfway Down

Halfway down the stairs
is a stair
where i sit.
there isn't any
other stair
quite like
it.
i'm not at the bottom,
i'm not at the top;
so this is the stair
where
I always
stop.


Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up
And it isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery,
It isn't in town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!

---A. A. Milne. The Muppet Show version, sung by Robin, was popular at my house when the children were very young. I couldn't find an mp3 file for you, but you can hear it behind this video at YouTube.

And there's more:

• At joythruChrist, we have a poem about a cat from T. S. Eliot.
• Candyinsierras remembers liking this one:

  On Jordan's stormy banks I stand,
  and cast a wishful eye
  to Canaan's fair and happy land,
  where my possessions lie.
  
  Refrain:
  I am bound for the promised land,
  I am bound for the promised land;
  oh, who will come and go with me?
  I am bound for the promised land.

  "I sang this song in sixth grade. . ." she says. "It is amazing that so many years later I remember the words to the first verse and the chorus. I loved our hour long music lessons."
  
• Violet post another one of her wonderful children's poems: Mrs. Beasley Packed Her Purse. Now don't tell me that one shouldn't be published! I see it as a whole picture book.
  

Boy, did I mess up the formatting on this one first time round! Copied and pasted way too much, and then ran off for the rest of the day.

If you're not afraid of my formatting mistakes, go ahead and participate in this month's children's poetry fun. Post a poem for kids on your blog and send me the link, and if you haven't a blog, just post your poem in the comments here. The more, the merrier, as always.