POEMS BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

On the grassy banks Lambkins at their pranks; Woolly sisters, woolly brothers, Jumping off their feet, While their woolly mothers Watch by them and bleat.

"Ferry me across the water, Do, boatman, do." "If you've a penny in your purse, I'll ferry you." "I have a penny in my purse, And my eyes are blue; So ferry me across the water, Do, boatman, do." "Step into my ferry-boat, Be they black or blue, And for the penny in your purse I'll ferry you."

"O sailor, come ashore. What have you brought for me?" "Red coral, white coral, Coral from the sea. "I did not dig it from the ground Nor pluck it from a tree; Feeble insects made it In the stormy sea."

Fly away, fly away over the sea, Sun-loving swallow, for summer is done; Come again, come again, come back to me, Bringing the summer and bringing the sun.

Wrens and robins in the hedge, Wrens and robins here and there; Building, perching, pecking, fluttering, Everywhere!

Boats sail on the rivers, And ships sail on the seas; But clouds that sail across the sky Are prettier far than these. There are bridges on the rivers, As pretty as you please; But the bow that bridges heaven, And overtops the trees, And builds a road from earth to sky, Is prettier far than these.