Lil' Shelf
Cover of The Wind

The Wind

Robert Louis Stevenson · 1885

ages 2 to 5poetryread aloudabout 1 minutes aloud

A child questions the wind directly, felt everywhere but never seen, tossing kites and pushing at coats. The repeated refrain gives it a chant-along quality that works well read aloud.

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

I saw you toss the kites on high
    And blow the birds about the sky;
    And all around I heard you pass,
    Like ladies' skirts across the grass—
      O wind, a-blowing all day long,
      O wind, that sings so loud a song!

I saw the different things you did,
    But always you yourself you hid.
    I felt you push, I heard you call,
    I could not see yourself at all—
      O wind, a-blowing all day long,
      O wind, that sings so loud a song!

O you that are so strong and cold,
    O blower, are you young or old?
    Are you a beast of field and tree,
    Or just a stronger child than me?
      O wind, a-blowing all day long,
      O wind, that sings so loud a song!

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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