Lil' Shelf
Cover of Looking Forward

Looking Forward

Robert Louis Stevenson · 1885

ages 2 to 5poetryread aloudabout 14 seconds aloud

A cheeky four-liner imagining the day a child gets to be grown-up, proud, and finally in charge of their own toys. Its dry little joke of an ending tends to make grown-ups smile more than children.

From A Child's Garden of Verses. See the whole collection.

When I am grown to man's estate
    I shall be very proud and great,
    And tell the other girls and boys
    Not to meddle with my toys.

Public domain. Text from A Child's Garden of Verses (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1885), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition

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