Read to your baby

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,How I wonder what you are !Up above the world so high,Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,When he nothing shines upon,Then you show your little light,Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the trav'ller in the dark,Thanks you for your tiny spark,He could not see which way to go,If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,And often thro' my curtains peep,For you never shut your eye,Till the sun is in the sky.

'Tis your bright and tiny spark,Lights the trav'ller in the dark :Tho' I know not what you are,Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;All the King's horses, and all the King's menCannot put Humpty Dumpty together again.

Jack and Jill went up the hill,To fetch a pail of water;Jack fell down, and broke his crown,And Jill came tumbling after.

Then up Jack got and off did trot,As fast as he could caper,To old Dame Dob, who patched his nobWith vinegar and brown paper.

Baa, baa, black sheep,Have you any wool?Yes, marry, have I,Three bags full;

One for my master,One for my dame,But none for the little boyWho cries in the lane.

Hey, diddle, diddle!The cat and the fiddle,The cow jumped over the moon;The little dog laughedTo see such sport,And the dish ran away with the spoon.

Hickory, dickory, dock!The mouse ran up the clock;The clock struck one,And down he run,Hickory, dickory, dock!

Little Miss MuffetSat on a tuffet,Eating of curds and whey;There came a big spider,And sat down beside her,And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake,Baker's man!So I do, master,As fast as I can.

Pat it, and prick it,And mark it with T,Put it in the ovenFor Tommy and me.

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,And can't tell where to find them;Leave them alone, and they'll come home,And bring their tails behind them.

Little Bo-Peep fell fast asleep,And dreamt she heard them bleating;But when she awoke, she found it a joke,For still they all were fleeting.

Then up she took her little crook,Determined for to find them;She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,For they'd left all their tails behind 'em!

It happened one day, as Bo-peep did strayUnto a meadow hard by--There she espied their tails, side by side,All hung on a tree to dry.

She heaved a sigh and wiped her eye,And over the hillocks she raced;And tried what she could, as a shepherdess should,That each tail should be properly placed.

Little Boy Blue, come, blow your horn!The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.Where's the little boy that looks after the sheep?Under the haystack, fast asleep!

Rock-a-bye, baby, thy cradle is green;Father's a nobleman, mother's a queen;And Betty's a lady, and wears a gold ring;And Johnny's a drummer, and drums for the king.

Sleep, baby, sleep,Our cottage vale is deep:The little lamb is on the green,With woolly fleece so soft and clean--Sleep, baby, sleep.Sleep, baby, sleep,Down where the woodbines creep;Be always like the lamb so mild,A kind, and sweet, and gentle child.Sleep, baby, sleep.

Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,Upstairs and downstairs, in his nightgown;Rapping at the window, crying through the lock,"Are the children in their beds? Now it's eight o'clock."

See-saw, Margery Daw,Sold her bed and lay upon straw.

One, two,Buckle my shoe;Three, four,Knock at the door;Five, six,Pick up sticks;Seven, eight,Lay them straight;Nine, ten,A good, fat hen;Eleven, twelve,Dig and delve;Thirteen, fourteen,Maids a-courting;Fifteen, sixteen,Maids in the kitchen;Seventeen, eighteen,Maids a-waiting;Nineteen, twenty,My plate's empty.

Old King ColeWas a merry old soul,And a merry old soul was he;He called for his pipe,And he called for his bowl,And he called for his fiddlers three!And every fiddler, he had a fine fiddle,And a very fine fiddle had he."Twee tweedle dee, tweedle dee," went the fiddlers.Oh, there's none so rareAs can compareWith King Cole and his fiddlers three.

Pease porridge hot,Pease porridge cold,Pease porridge in the pot,Nine days old.Some like it hot,Some like it cold,Some like it in the pot,Nine days old.

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig.Home again, home again, jiggety jig.To market, to market, to buy a fat hog,Home again, home again, jiggety jog.To market, to market, to buy a plum bun,Home again, home again, market is done.

Girls and boys, come out to play,The moon doth shine as bright as day;Leave your supper, and leave your sleep,And come with your playfellows into the street.Come with a whoop, come with a call,Come with a good will or not at all.Up the ladder and down the wall,A half-penny roll will serve us all.You find milk, and I'll find flour,And we'll have a pudding in half an hour.

As I was going to St. IvesI met a man with seven wives.Every wife had seven sacks,Every sack had seven cats,Every cat had seven kits.Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,How many were going to St. Ives?

How do you like to go up in a swing,Up in the air so blue?Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thingEver a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,Till I can see so wide,Rivers and trees and cattle and allOver the countryside--

Till I look down on the garden green,Down on the roof so brown--Up in the air I go flying again,Up in the air and down!

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow--Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

The friendly cow all red and white,I love with all my heart:She gives me cream with all her might,To eat with apple-tart.

She wanders lowing here and there,And yet she cannot stray,All in the pleasant open air,The pleasant light of day;

And blown by all the winds that passAnd wet with all the showers,She walks among the meadow grassAnd eats the meadow flowers.

The moon has a face like the clock in the hall;She shines on thieves on the garden wall,On streets and field and harbour quays,And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.

The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,The howling dog by the door of the house,The bat that lies in bed at noon,All love to be out by the light of the moon.

But all of the things that belong to the dayCuddle to sleep to be out of her way;And flowers and children close their eyesTill up in the morning the sun shall arise.

In winter I get up at nightAnd dress by yellow candle-light.In summer, quite the other way,I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and seeThe birds still hopping on the tree,Or hear the grown-up people's feetStill going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,When all the sky is clear and blue,And I should like so much to play,To have to go to bed by day?

When I was down beside the seaA wooden spade they gave to meTo dig the sandy shore.

My holes were empty like a cup.In every hole the sea came up,Till it could come no more.

A birdie with a yellow billHopped upon the window sill,Cocked his shining eye and said:"Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head!"

Said the Duck to the Kangaroo,"Good gracious! how you hopOver the fields, and the water too,As if you never would stop!My life is a bore in this nasty pond;And I long to go out in the world beyond:I wish I could hop like you,"Said the Duck to the Kangaroo.

"Please give me a ride on your back,"Said the Duck to the Kangaroo:"I would sit quite still, and say nothing but 'Quack'The whole of the long day through;And we 'd go the Dee, and the Jelly Bo Lee,Over the land, and over the sea:Please take me a ride! oh, do!"Said the Duck to the Kangaroo.

Said the Kangaroo to the Duck,"This requires some little reflection.Perhaps, on the whole, it might bring me luck;And there seems but one objection;Which is, if you'll let me speak so bold,Your feet are unpleasantly wet and cold,And would probably give me the roo-Matiz," said the Kangaroo.

Said the Duck, "As I sate on the rocks,I have thought over that completely;And I bought four pairs of worsted socks,Which fit my web-feet neatly;And, to keep out the cold, I've bought a cloak;And every day a cigar I'll smoke;All to follow my own dear trueLove of a Kangaroo."

Said the Kangaroo, "I'm ready,All in the moonlight pale;But to balance me well, dear Duck, sit steady,And quite at the end of my tail."So away they went with a hop and a bound;And they hopped the whole world three times round.And who so happy, oh! who,As the Duck and the Kangaroo?

Little Lamb, who made theeDost thou know who made thee,Gave thee life, and bid thee feedBy the stream and o'er the mead;Gave thee clothing of delight,Softest clothing, woolly, bright;Gave thee such a tender voice,Making all the vales rejoice?Little Lamb, who made thee?Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee;Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:He is called by thy name,For He calls Himself a LambHe is meek, and He is mild,He became a little child.I a child, and thou a lamb,We are called by His name.Little Lamb, God bless thee!Little Lamb, God bless thee!

I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o'er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but theyOut-did the sparkling leaves in glee;A poet could not be but gay,In such a jocund company!I gazed—and gazed—but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.

Let me not to the marriage of true mindsAdmit impediments. Love is not loveWhich alters when it alteration finds,Or bends with the remover to remove:O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,That looks on tempests and is never shaken;It is the star to every wandering bark,Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeksWithin his bending sickle's compass come;Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,But bears it out even to the edge of doom.If this be error and upon me prov'd,I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

The rain is raining all around,It falls on field and tree,It rains on the umbrellas here,And on the ships at sea.

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to seaIn a beautiful pea-green boat:They took some honey, and plenty of moneyWrapped up in a five-pound note.The Owl looked up to the stars above,And sang to a small guitar,"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,What a beautiful Pussy you are,You are,You are!What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl,How charmingly sweet you sing!Oh! let us be married; too long we have tarried:But what shall we do for a ring?"They sailed away, for a year and a day,To the land where the bong-tree grows;And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood,With a ring at the end of his nose,His nose,His nose,With a ring at the end of his nose.

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shillingYour ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."So they took it away, and were married next dayBy the Turkey who lives on the hill.They dined on mince and slices of quince,Which they ate with a runcible spoon;And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,They danced by the light of the moon,The moon,The moon,They danced by the light of the moon.

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one nightSailed off in a wooden shoe,--Sailed on a river of crystal lightInto a sea of dew."Where are you going, and what do you wish?"The old moon asked the three."We have come to fish for the herring-fishThat live in this beautiful sea;Nets of silver and gold have we,"Said Wynken,Blynken,And Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,As they rocked in the wooden shoe;And the wind that sped them all night longRuffled the waves of dew;The little stars were the herring-fishThat lived in the beautiful sea."Now cast your nets wherever you wish,--Never afraid are we!"So cried the stars to the fishermen three,Wynken,Blynken,And Nod.

All night long their nets they threwTo the stars in the twinkling foam,--Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,Bringing the fishermen home:'Twas all so pretty a sail, it seemedAs if it could not be;And some folk thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamedOf sailing that beautiful sea;But I shall name you the fishermen three:Wynken,Blynken,And Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,And Nod is a little head,And the wooden shoe that sailed the skiesIs a wee one's trundle-bed;So shut your eyes while Mother singsOf wonderful sights that be,And you shall see the beautiful thingsAs you rock in the misty seaWhere the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:--Wynken,Blynken,And Nod.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date:Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimm'd,And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd:But thy eternal summer shall not fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.