Sery
:
SIGNIFICANCE AND SPIRIT
RICHARD WATSON GILDER
With wild surprise
Four great eyes
In two small heads,
From neighboring beds
Looked out--and winked--
And glittered and blinked
At a very queer sight
In the dim starlight.
As plain as can be
A fairy tree
Flashes and glimmers
And shakes and shimme
s.
Red, green and blue
Meet their view;
Silver and gold
Their sharp eyes behold;
Small moon, big stars;
And jams in jars,
And cakes, and honey
And thimbles, and money,
Pink dogs, blue cats,
Little squeaking rats,
And candles, and dolls,
And crackers, and polls,
A real bird that sings,
And tokens and favors,
And all sorts of things
For the little shavers.
Four black eyes
Grow big with surprise;
And then grow bigger
When a tiny figure,
Jaunty and airy,
(Is it a fairy?)
From the tree-top cries,
Open wide! Black Eyes!
Come, children, wake now!
Your joys you may take now!
Quick as you can think
Twenty small toes
In four pretty rows,
Like little piggies pink,
All kick in the air--
And before you can wink
The tree stands bare!