Poems (Curwen)/Holiday Time

by Annie Isabel Curwen

Holiday Time.

Standing by my chamber window,
 Gazing out into the street,
I watch the little children passing,
 And listen to their laughter sweet;
Little sunburnt lads and lassies,
 With their merry winsome ways,
Sporting in the summer sunshine,
 Making most of holidays.

Little lads, with mischief written
 On their roguish faces, smile,
As they strut, with hands in pockets,
 Looking out for fun the while;
Happy-go-lucky little fellows,
 With no thought beyond to-day:
Glad of respite from their lessons,
 Who so free from care as they?

Little lassies, some like mothers
 In their watchful tenderness,
Guard their tiny toddling sisters
 With such loving carefulness.
That my watching eyes grow humid,
 As the darlings come and go,
With their precious little charges
 In the sunny street below.

One, a tiny blue-eyed maiden,
 With a sweet protecting air
Watches thus her sister Gladys—
 The dark-eyed baby in her care.
Such a winsome mite is Jennie,
 So old-fashioned and so wise,
That one loves to question her
 Just to hear her quaint replies.

Happy little lads and lassies!
 Take your fill of fun and play,
For holidays will soon be over,
 And brief is childhood's happy day.
Who shall say what lessons wait you,
 Under a less kindly rule,
When the world's great gates you enter,—
 God be with you in life's school.