Friday, September 21, 2007

The Sea, the Stars and … a Squadron of Cows?

In honor of two major events that occurred this week – Talk Like a Pirate Day and the U.S. release of Adrienne Kress’s middle-grade adventure, Alex and the Ironic Gentleman – I have selected Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Pirate Story” for this week’s Poetry Friday post.

Love this kid-centric piece. Enjoy!

Pirate Story
by Robert Louis Stevenson

Three of us afloat in the meadow by the swing,
Three of us abroad in the basket on the lea.
Winds are in the air, they are blowing in the spring,
And waves are on the meadow like the waves there are at sea.

Where shall we adventure, to-day that we're afloat,
Wary of the weather and steering by a star?
Shall it be to Africa, a-steering of the boat,
To Providence, or Babylon or off to Malabar?

Hi! but here's a squadron a-rowing on the sea--
Cattle on the meadow a-charging with a roar!
Quick, and we'll escape them, they're as mad as they can be,
The wicket is the harbour and the garden is the shore.

Many thanks to Sara Lewis Holmes for hosting this week’s Poetry Friday!

6 comments:

Sara said...

Got you rounded up, Linda. Pretty easy, unlike cows. Have you ever chased cows? My husband grew up on a dairy farm and had to do it all time. And when we were dating, the cows "chaperoned" us on long walks.

LindaBudz said...

Thanks, Sara!

I have to say, I have never chased cows, nor been chased by them. Some of the kids I grew up around in rural PA thought it great fun to tip them while they slept, which I always thought seemed awfully cruel.

Now having a cow as a chaperone, that would be cool!

Anonymous said...

Having spent the afternoon with my son who was building roads and guest houses for bears in the sand at the beach, I like Stevenson's poem a lot!

LindaBudz said...

Cows that serve as chaperones and bears that stay in guest houses ... this is my favorite comment thread ever!

Stephanie, PQW said...

What beautiful word pictures. It releases the child within. When I was small I used to pretned the sky was the sea and that clouds were islands. You could play on them all day. And if you fell, no problem, you'd bounce back up with no scrapes or bruises. If a little stuck to you, you could lick it off like cotton candy.

LindaBudz said...

Just when I thought this thread couldn't get any better ... cotton candy! Wow!