To the Children
The Organ-Grinder
O children, open your arms to me,
Let your hair fall over my eyes;
Let me sleep a moment - and then awake
In your garden of sweet surprise!
For the grown-up folk
Are a wearisome folk,
And they laugh all my fancies to scorn -
My fun and my fancies to scorn.
O children, open your hearts to me,
And tell me your wonder-thoughts.
Who lives in the palace inside your brain?
Who plays in its outer courts?
Who hides in the hours Tomorrow hold?
Who sleeps in your Yesterdays?
Who tiptoes along part the curtained folds
Of the shadow that Twilight lays?
O children, open your eyes to me,
And tell me your visions too;
Who squeezes the sponge when the salt tears flow
To dim their magical blue?
Who brushes the fringe of their lace-veined lids?
Who trims their innocent light?
Who draws up the blinds when the sun peeps in?
Who fastens them down at night?
O children, I pray your, speak low to me,
And cover my eyes with your hands;
O kiss me again till I sleep and dream
That I'm lost in your Fairylands;
For the grown-up folk
Are a troublesome folk
And the book of their childhood is torn -
Is blotted and crumpled and torn!
Act Two
The Blue-Eyes Fairy
The Organ-Grinder
There's a fairy that hides in the beautiful eyes
Of the children who treat her well;
In the little round hole where the eye-ball lies
She weaves her magical spell,
She is awfully tiny and shy to the sight,
But her magic's past believing,
For she fills you with light and with laughter -
It's the spell of her own sweet weaving.
But the eyes must be blue,
And the heart must be true,
And the child must be better than gold!
And then, if you'll let her -
The quicker the better -
She'll make you forget that you're old.
So if such a child you should chance to see,
Or with such a child to play,
No matter how tired or dull you be,
Nor how many tons you weigh,
You will suddenly find that you're young again,
And your movements light and airy,
And you try to be solemn and stiff in vain -
It's the spell of the Blue-Eyes Fairy!
The Curfew Song
The Organ-Grinder
The sun has gone;
The tide of stars is setting all one way -
The Pleiades call softly to Orion,
As nightly they have called these million years:
The children lie asleep; now let them out,
And, over-hearing,
We waft the fairy call into your dreams,
That you may swim upon that tide of gold
And, list'ning in your hearts
Just over-hear
That deep tremendous thunder
Signalling reply:
All's well!
Orion's answering the Pleiades!
The Laugher's Song
The Laugher
I'm everywhere -
The universal solvent of despair -
That sings away
The half of ev'ry care because I laugh!
Come little Winds
Wake up, you little Night Winds:
Blow you best!
We want you all-
Ha! ha! that's East and West;
The North Wind too -
She always blows the strongest:
You all must draw your deepest breath and longest,
With open mouth!
Now go and blow the Haystack out of bed!
Whistle her dreams of straw across the sky
And whirl her canvas skirts about her head-
You can but try!
Go, sweep he to'ards the Cave, and break her trance:
Thick Mother of the Sprites -
She must get in:
Even a Haystack's elephantine dance
Is somewhere thin!
Tears and laughter
Oh, stars, shine brightly!
He's sleeping lightly!
His pattern's pouring through!
Oh, Sprites, come swiftly!
Unwumble deftly!
The world has need of you!
They'll listen to my song -
And understand
That, exiled over long
In Fairyland,
The weary world has rather lost its way!
My secret's double,
For tears of trouble
Are really tears of laughter gone astray
Sunrise Song
We shall meet the morning spiders,
The fairy cotton riders,
Each mounted on a starts rejected ray.
With their tiny nets of feather
They collect our thoughts together,
And on strips of windy weather bring the Day!
Act Three
My Old Tunes
The Organ-Grinder
My old tunes are rather broken
And they come from far away,
Bring just a little token
Of a long-forgotten day;
When the children came to listen
T'other side the garden fence,
And my heart leapt out of prison
At the gift of - seven pence.
Just beyond the Haystack's shadow
Long ago, that leafy June,
How they danced about the meadow
At the risin' of the moon!
While from out a railway carriage,
Standing ready and alight,
Stepped their guests, as to a marriage -
Asked to dine and stay the night!
Sweep and Laugher danced together,
And a man who had a lamp
Capered lightly as a feather
With a lazy-looking Tramp;
When a voice disturbed the Lancers:
"Children, come! It's time for bed!"
Railway carriage, Sprites and Dancers
Flew up to the stars instead!
Now I am a Constellation,
Free from ev'ry earthly care,
Playing nightly at my station
For the Big and Little Bear;
But my tunes are still entrancing,
As that night in leafy June,
When I caught the children dancing
With the Sprites beneath the moon!
Still the children come to hear me
In the lane or dingy street;
Still the heavy pavement near me
Flutters to their happy feet;
For my tunes are ne'er forgotten,
And they bring the scent of musk:
Grown-up folk may call 'em rotten,
But I'm looked for - when it's dusk!
Jane Anne's Song
Dandelions, daffodils,
Sheets o' yaller roses,
Goldenrods and Marigolds,
Buttercups for posies!
The Laugher
Laugh a little ev'ry day -
At yourself, that is to say.
The Dawn
They're all soft-shiny now -
The time draws near;
Their hearts are dusted
And the path's swept clear!
The tide of starts is setting all one way,
Bring on the dawn - yet not the Dawn of Day.
Jane Anne
Oh, think Beauty,
It's your duty:
Ev'ry loving gentle thought
Of the Fairy Brilliance wrought,
While the busy Pleiades,
Sisters to the Hyades,
Seven by seven
Across the Heaven!
Finale
Dustman, Laugher, Tramp and busy Sweep,
Head Gardener too,
The world now waking from her heavy sleep
Has need of you!
Gypsy, Lampman, come! take of our best,
Our sweetest dust,
And sow earth's little gardens of unrest
With joy and trust -
For ev'ry hour
A golden flower:
Love, Laughter, Courage, Hope, and all the rest:
Hearts must be soft-shiny dressed
With your softest, sweetest best
Dust, that comes from very far.
Daddy's pattern, heart and brain,
Sprinkle with the golden rain
For the rising of the Star.
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