Project Gutenberg's Peacock Pie, A Book of Rhymes, by Walter de la Mare

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Title: Peacock Pie, A Book of Rhymes

Author: Walter de la Mare

Posting Date: May 13, 2009 [EBook #3753] Release Date: February, 2003 First Posted: August 21, 2001

Language: English

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PEACOCK PIE

A Book of Rhymes

by

Walter de la Mare

    'He told me his dreams. . .'
                               Isaac Watts

Table of Contents

  UP AND DOWN
       The Horseman
       Up and Down
       Mrs. Earth
       Alas, Alack
       Tired Tim
       Mima
       The Huntsmen
       The Bandog
       I Can't Abear
       The Dunce
       Chicken
       Some One
       Bread and Cherries
       Old Shellover
       Hapless
       The Little Bird
       Cake and Sack
       The Ship of Rio
       Tillie
       Jim Jay
       Miss T.
       The Cupboard
       The Barber's
       Hide and Seek

  BOYS AND GIRLS
       Then
       The Window
       Poor Henry
       Full Moon
       The Bookworm
       The Quartette
       Mistletoe
       The Lost Shoe
       The Truants

  THREE QUEER TALES
       Berries
       Off the Ground
       The Thief at Robin's Castle

  PLACES AND PEOPLE
       A Widow's Weeds
       'Sooeep!'
       Mrs. MacQueen
       The Little Green Orchard
       Poor Miss 7
       Sam
       Andy Battle
       The Old Soldier
       The Picture
       The Little Old Cupid
       King David
       The Old House

  BEASTS
       Unstooping
       All But Blind
       Nicholas Nye
       The Pigs and The Charcoal Burner
       Five Eyes
       Grim
       Tit for Tat
       Summer Evening
       Earth Folk

  WITCHES AND FAIRIES
       At the Keyhole
       The Old Stone House
       The Ruin
       The Ride-by-Nights
       Peak and Puke
       The Changeling
       The Mocking Fairy
       Bewitched
       The Honey Robbers
       Longlegs
       Melmillo

  EARTH AND AIR
       Trees
       Silver
       Nobody Knows
       Wanderers
       Many a Mickle
       Will Ever?

  SONGS
       The Song of the Secret
       The Song of Soldiers
       The Bees' Song
       A Song of Enchantment
       Dream-Song
       The Song of Shadows
       The Song of the Mad prince
       The Song of Finis

THE HORSEMAN

  I heard a horseman
     Ride over the hill;
  The moon shone clear,
  The night was still;
  His helm was silver,
     And pale was he;
  And the horse he rode
     Was of ivory.

UP AND DOWN

  Down the Hill of Ludgate,
     Up the Hill of Fleet,
  To and fro and East and West
     With people flows the street;
  Even the King of England
     On Temple Bar must beat
  For leave to ride to Ludgate
     Down the Hill of Fleet.

MRS. EARTH

  Mrs. Earth makes silver black,
     Mrs. Earth makes iron red
  But Mrs. Earth can not stain gold,
     Nor ruby red.
  Mrs. earth the slenderest bone
     Whitens in her bosom cold,
  But Mrs. Earth can change my dreams
     No more than ruby or gold.
  Mrs. Earth and Mr. Sun
     Can tan my skin, and tire my toes,
  But all that I'm thinking of, ever shall think,
     Why, either knows.

ALAS, ALACK!

  Ann, Ann!
     Come! Quick as you can!
  There's a fish that talks
     In the frying-pan.
  Out of the fat,
     As clear as glass,
  He put up his mouth
     And moaned 'Alas!'
  Oh, most mournful,
     'Alas, alack!'
  Then turned to his sizzling,
     And sank him back.

TIRED TIM

  Poor Tired Tim! It's sad for him.
  He lags the long bright morning through,
  Ever so tired of nothing to do;
  He moons and mopes the livelong day,
  Nothing to think about, nothing to say;
  Up to bed with his candle to creep,
  Too tired to yawn, too tired to sleep:
  Poor Tired Tim! It's sad for him.

MIMA

  Jemima is my name,
     But oh, I have another;
  My father always calls me Meg,
     And so do Bob and mother;
  Only my sister, jealous of
     The strands of my bright hair,
  'Jemima - Mima - Mima!'
     Calls, mocking, up the stair.

THE HUNTSMEN

  Three jolly gentlemen,
     In coats of red,
  Rode their horses
     Up to bed.

  Three jolly gentlemen
     Snored till morn,
  Their horses champing
     The golden corn.

  Three jolly gentlemen,
     At break of day,
  Came clitter-clatter down the stairs
  And galloped away.

THE BANDOG

  Has anybody seen my Mopser? —
     A comely dog is he,
  With hair of the colour of a Charles the Fifth,
     And teeth like ships at sea,
  His tail it curls straight upwards,
     His ears stand two abreast,
  And he answers to the simple name of Mopser
     When civilly addressed.

I CAN'T ABEAR

  I can't abear a Butcher,
     I can't abide his meat,
  The ugliest shop of all is his,