If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Options
Children's Poetry
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
I'm starting this for a specific reason, though there's no reason why it can't be a general thread too if anyone else loved/loves children's poetry (or even literature) as much as I do 
If so then please share!
But anyway, it's my Godson's naming ceremony on Saturday and I've been asked to read something at some point. My immediate thought was, because his name is James, that The Christening by A.A Milne was perfect and very sweet (and I know they won't be offended by the mouse comparison
):
What shall I call
My dear little dormouse?
His eyes are small,
But his tail is e-nor-mouse.
I sometimes call him Terrible John,
'Cos his tail goes on -
And on -
And on.
And I sometimes call him Terrible Jack,
'Cos his tail goes on to the end of his back.
And I sometimes call him Terrible James,
'Cos he says he likes me calling him names...
But I think I shall call him Jim,
'Cos I am fond of him.
Though my other two possibilities are:
May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay forever young.
May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young.
May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young.
May you stay forever young...
or this poem, which is by his mother's favourite poet, and one I like because it's unsentimental. I did think maybe it's a bit much... but then that's right up their street:
Love set you going like a fat gold watch.
The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry
Took its place among the elements.
Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue.
In a drafty museum, your nakedness
Shadows our safety. We stand round blankly as walls.
I'm no more your mother
Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow
Effacement at the wind's hand.
All night your moth-breath
Flickers among the flat pink roses. I wake to listen:
A far sea moves in my ear.
One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and floral
In my Victorian nightgown.
Your mouth opens clean as a cat's. The window square
Whitens and swallows its dull stars. And now you try
Your handful of notes;
The clear vowels rise like balloons...
Any thoughts? Hysterical laughter? Alternative suggestions? I'd be open to any and all, as it's taken me a while to narrow it down to these three but the choice wasn't exactly staggering - and that's after racking my brains for any appropriate excerpts from literature, poems or lyrics.
On a more general topic, a poem that sticks with me from childhood - but isn't naming ceremony appropriate - is this one by Shel Silverstein
Teddy said it was a hat
And so I put it on.
Now Dad is saying, "Where the heck's
The toilet plunger gone?"
If so then please share!But anyway, it's my Godson's naming ceremony on Saturday and I've been asked to read something at some point. My immediate thought was, because his name is James, that The Christening by A.A Milne was perfect and very sweet (and I know they won't be offended by the mouse comparison
):What shall I call
My dear little dormouse?
His eyes are small,
But his tail is e-nor-mouse.
I sometimes call him Terrible John,
'Cos his tail goes on -
And on -
And on.
And I sometimes call him Terrible Jack,
'Cos his tail goes on to the end of his back.
And I sometimes call him Terrible James,
'Cos he says he likes me calling him names...
But I think I shall call him Jim,
'Cos I am fond of him.
Though my other two possibilities are:
May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay forever young.
May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young.
May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young.
May you stay forever young...
or this poem, which is by his mother's favourite poet, and one I like because it's unsentimental. I did think maybe it's a bit much... but then that's right up their street:
Love set you going like a fat gold watch.
The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry
Took its place among the elements.
Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue.
In a drafty museum, your nakedness
Shadows our safety. We stand round blankly as walls.
I'm no more your mother
Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow
Effacement at the wind's hand.
All night your moth-breath
Flickers among the flat pink roses. I wake to listen:
A far sea moves in my ear.
One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and floral
In my Victorian nightgown.
Your mouth opens clean as a cat's. The window square
Whitens and swallows its dull stars. And now you try
Your handful of notes;
The clear vowels rise like balloons...
Any thoughts? Hysterical laughter? Alternative suggestions? I'd be open to any and all, as it's taken me a while to narrow it down to these three but the choice wasn't exactly staggering - and that's after racking my brains for any appropriate excerpts from literature, poems or lyrics.
On a more general topic, a poem that sticks with me from childhood - but isn't naming ceremony appropriate - is this one by Shel Silverstein
Teddy said it was a hat
And so I put it on.
Now Dad is saying, "Where the heck's
The toilet plunger gone?"
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
Post edited by JustV on
0
Comments
With a jolly gun
Walking in the country
In the jolly sun.
In the jolly meadow
Sat a jolly hare.
Saw the jolly hunter.
Took jolly care.
Hunter jolly eager-
Sight of jolly prey.
Forgot gun pointing
Wrong jolly way.
Jolly hunter jolly head
Over heels gone.
Jolly old safety catch
Not jolly on.
Bang went the jolly gun.
Hunter jolly dead.
Jolly hare got clean away.
Jolly good, I said.
My mum used to tell that when I was small. I used to get her to say it over and over again.
all crisp and green and brainy
I sometimes wear one on my head
when it is cold and rainy
I like that!
I just remembered that old classic:
"Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
If Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
He wasn't Fuzzy, was he?"
hehe, i remember that.
how about:
The spring has sprung,
the grass is riz,
I wonder where dem birdies is?
Dem little birds is on de wing,
but thats absurd,
the little wings is on de bird!
I eat my peas with honey,
I've done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny
But it keeps them on the knife!
and this one by Shel Silverstein, who is great
I love Michael Rosen!
I remember going to waterstones in town when I was about 7 and he was there doing this reading, he picked me out and got me to do this poem rap thing with him.
Yeah, I'm swaying toward that one too, because despite the obvious mention of "God" in the first line it's otherwise pretty much what I do wish for him and the kind of sentiment I want to express. Plus it's actually the lyrics to a Dylan song, which I think is a relatively funky thing to have read out at the first official ceremony that's all about you (...well, him, but you know what I mean...).
I'd consider singing it, but I do want it to remain a happy occasion! :razz:
Thanks..
Anything by these guys Michael Rosen and Roger McGough