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
T.E.C.S. Poetry – 5th Grade
The Flower-Fed Buffaloes
The flower‑fed
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 flower‑fed
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
T.E.C.S. Poetry – 5th Grade
The Battle Hymn of the Republic
Mine eyes have seen
the glory
of the coming of the
Lord;
He is trampling out
the vintage
where the grapes of
wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the
fateful lightning
of His terrible
swift sword;
His truth is
marching on.
I have seen Him in
the watch-fires
of a hundred
circling camps
They have builded
Him an altar
in the evening dews
and damps;
I can read His
righteous sentence
by the dim and
flaring lamps;
His day is marching
on.
He has sounded forth
the trumpet
that shall never
call retreat;
He is sifting out
the hearts of men
before His
judgment-seat;
Oh be swift, my
soul, to answer Him;
be jubilant, my
feet;
Our God is marching
on.
In the beauty of the
lilies Christ
was born across the
sea,
With a glory in His
bosom
that transfigures
you and me;
As He died to make
men holy,
let us die to make
men free;
While God is
marching on.
-by Julia Ward Howe
T.E.C.S. Poetry – 5th Grade
Escape at Bedtime
The
lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out
Through
the blinds and the windows and bars;
And
high overhead and all moving about,
There
were thousands of millions of stars.
There
ne'er were such thousands of leaves on a tree,
Nor
of people in church or the Park,
As
the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me,
And
that glittered and winked in the dark.
The
Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all,
And
the star of the sailor, and Mars,
These
shown in the sky, and the pail by the wall
Would
be half full of water and stars.
They
saw me at last, and they chased me with cries,
And
they soon had me packed into bed;
But
the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes,
And
the stars going round in my head.
-by
Robert Louis Stevenson
T.E.C.S. Poetry – 5th Grade
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
T.E.C.S. Poetry – 5th Grade
