A Child's Thought

At seven, when I go to bed,

I find such pictures in my head:

Castles with dragons prowling round,

Gardens where magic fruits are found;

Fair ladies prisoned in a tower,

Or lost in an enchanted bower;

While gallant horsemen ride by streams

That border all this land of dreams.

I find, so clearly in my head

At seven, when I go to bed.

At seven, when I wake again,

The magic land I seek in vain;

A chair stands where the castle frowned,

The carpet hides the garden ground,

No fairies trip across the floor.

Boots, and not horsemen, flank the door,

And where the blue streams rippling ran

Is now a bath and water-can;

I seek the magic land in vain

At seven, when I wake again.