New Poems for 5th Grading Term

General Store

Some day I’m going to have a store

With a tinkly bell hung over the door,

With real glass cases and counters wide

And drawers all spilly with things inside.

There’ll be a little of everything;

Bolts of calico; balls of string;

Jars of peppermints; tins of tea;

Pots and kettles and crockery;

Seeds in packets; scissors bright;

Kegs of sugar, brown and white;

Sarsaparilla for picnic lunches,

Bananas and rubber boots in bunches.

I’ll fix the window and dust each shelf,

And take the money in all myself.

It will be my store, and I will say:

"What can I do for you today?"

-by Rachel Field

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The Flower-Fed Buffaloes

The flowerfed buffaloes of the spring

In the days of long ago,

Ranged where the locomotives sing

And the prairie flowers lie low:

The tossing, blooming, perfumed grass

Is swept away by wheat,

Wheels and wheels and wheels spin by

In the spring that still is sweet.

But the flowerfed buffaloes of the spring

Left us long ago, They gore no more, they

bellow no more:-

With the Blackfeet lying low,

With the Pawnee lying low.

-by Vachel Lindsay

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The Reading Mother

I had a Mother who read to me

Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea,

Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,

"Prisoners" stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me plays

Of ancient and gallant and golden days;

Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,

Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales

Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales

True to his trust til his tragic death,

Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me things

The wholesome life to the boy heart brings

Stories that stir with an upward touch.

Oh, that each Mother of boys were such!

You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be

I had a Mother who read to me.

-by Gillian Strickland

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How To Tell The Wild Animals

If ever you should go by chance

To Jungles in the East;

And if there should to you advance

A large and tawny beast,

If he roars at you as you're dyin'

You'll know it is the Asian Lion.

Or if some time when roaming round,

A noble wild beast greets you,

With black stripes on a yellow ground,

Just notice if he eats you.

This simple rule may help you learn

The Bengal Tiger to discern.

If strolling forth, a beast you view,

Whose hide with spots is peppered,

As soon as he has lept on you,

You'll know it is the Leopard.

'Twill do no good to roar with pain,

He'll only leap and leap again.

If when you're walking round your yard,

You meet a creature there,

Who hugs you very, very hard,

Be sure it is the Bear.

If you have any doubt, I guess

He'll give you just one more caress.

Though to distinguish beasts of prey

A novice might nonplus,

The Crocodiles you always may

Tell from Hyenas thus:

Hyenas come with merry smiles;

But if they weep, they’re Crocodiles.

The true Chameleon is small,

A lizard sort of thing;

He hasn't any ears at all,

And not a single wing.

If there is nothing in the tree,

'Tis the Chameleon you see.

-by Carolyn Wells