Chapter VII

Six White Mice, with harness on,
What do you think of Cousin John,
Who taught them so,
And made them go?--
Six white mice, with harness on!

A wee coach, gilt like the Lord Mayor’s own!
Made by Cousin John alone,
Bright and gay,--
On a Lord Mayor’s Day
Just such a coach is the Lord Mayor’s own!

Marian’s Doll come out for a ride,
Dressed like a queen in pomp and pride:
The six wee mice,
That trot so nice,
Draw Marian’s Doll come out for a ride!

Every mouse had a silver bell
Round its neck, as I’ve heard tell;
Tinkle tink!--
But who would think
Of a harnessed mouse, with a silver bell?

“What can six white mice intend?”
Thought Queen Mab, with her hair on end--
“And silver bells,
And what-not-else--
What can six white mice intend?

“When was such a procession seen?
It frightens me, as I’m a Queen!”
So she stopped her tricks,
And her coach-and-six
Drove away with the Fairy Queen.

THE NEW WORLD

I saw a new world in my dream,
Where all the folks alike did seem;
There was no Child, there was no Mother,
There was no Change, there was no Other,

For everything was Same, the Same;
There was no praise, there was no blame;
There was neither Need nor Help for it;
There was nothing fitting, or unfit.

Nobody laughed, nobody wept;
None grew weary, and so none slept;
There was nobody born, and nobody wed;
This world was a world of the living-dead.

I longed to hear the Time-Clock strike
In the world where the people were all alike;
I hated Same, I hated For-Ever,
I longed to say Neither, or even Never.

I longed to mend, I longed to make,
I longed to give, I longed to take,
I longed for a change, whatever came after,
I longed for crying, I longed for laughter.

At last I heard the Time-Clock boom,
And woke from my dream in my little room;
With a smile on her lips my mother was nigh,
And I heard the Baby crow and cry.

And I thought to myself,--How nice it is
For me to live in a world like this,
Where things can happen, and clocks can strike,
And none of the people are made alike;

Where Love wants this, and Pain wants that,
And all our hearts want Tit for Tat
In the jumbles we make with our heads and our hands,
In a world that nobody understands,
But with work, and hope, and the right to call
Upon Him who sees it and knows us all.

LINA AND HER LAMB

I

This is Lina, with her lamb,
Lina and her lamb together,
In the pleasant, flowery weather.
“What a happy lamb I am!”--
That is what the lamb would say
If the lamb could only speak--
“Lina loves me all the week;
Lina loves me night and day;
Lina loves me all the hours;
Lina goes to gather flowers;
Lina knows them, Lina finds them;
Lina takes the flowers, and binds them
In a necklace for her lamb!”--
Happy Lina, happy lamb!
Lina and her lamb together,
In the pleasant flowery weather.