Between Birthdays
Happy Birthday Card
Hand-Me Downs
The Sounds in the Evening
Rules
Blind Alley
I Told the Wizard to His Face
I'm Only An Apprentice Witch
Blizzard
If I Were Not A Wizard
I'm An Amiable Dragon
I'm Waiting Waiting Waiting
If You Don't Believe in Dragons
I Wish I Had a Dragon
Nasty Little Dragonsong
My Dragon Wasn't Feeling Good
I Am Master's Dragon
The Dragons Are Singing Tonight
A Dragon's Lament
I Have A Dozen Dragons
I Am Boom
In the Mirror
Flying
Tables Turned
My birthdays take so long to start.
They come along a year apart.
It's worse than waiting for a bus;
I fear I used to fret and fuss,
But now, when by impatience vexed
Between one birthday and the next,
I think of all that I have seen
That keeps on happening in between.
The songs I've heard, the things I've done,
Make my unbirthdays no so un-
H appy birthday all of us say
A nd may you have a lovely day.
P lenty of nice dreams!
P resents and ice creams!
Y ucky buns!
B est of fun!
I nteresting invitations!
R ailway stations!
T elly and trips!
H amburgers and chips! BUT
D o not get a cough (if)
A nd I hope your knees fall off (if)
Y ou forget mine
I'm always wearing hand-me-down.
I don't get stuff that's new.
My mom won't take me shopping.
I don't know what to do.
The dresses always fit me fine,
but high heels give me blisters.
It's not that easy growing up,
a boy with older sisters.
The sounds in the evening
Go all through the house,
The click of the clock
And the pick of the mouse,
The footsteps of people
Upon the top floor,
The skirts of my mother
That brush by my door,
The crick in the boards,
And the creak of the chairs,
The fluttering murmurs
Outside on the stairs,
The ring at the bell,
The arrival of guest,
The laugh of my father
At one of his jests,
The clashing of dishes
As dinner goes in,
The babble of voices
That distance makes thin,
The mewings of cats
That seem just by my ear,
The hooting of owls
That can never seem near,
The queer little noises
That on one explains -
Till the moon through the slats
Of my window-blind rains,
And the world of my eyes
And my ears melts like steam
As I find in my pillow
The world of my dream.
All schools
Have rules
Even those without 'em.
It's the rule of those school
To have no rules,
That's all there is about 'em.
There's a turning I must pass
Often four times in a day,
Narrow, rather dark, with grass
Growing, a neglected way;
Two long walls, a tumbled shed,
Bushes shadowing each wall -
When I've wondered where it led
People say Nowhere at all.
But if that is true, oh why
Should this turning be at all?
Some time, in the daylight, I
Will creep up along the wall;
For it somehow makes you think,
It has such a secret air,
It might lead you to the brink
Of - oh well, of anywhere!
Some time I will go. And see,
Here's the turning just in sight,
Full of shadows beckoning me!
Some time, yes. But not to-night.
I told the wizard to this face,
"You're just a fraud, a phony,
A fake, a sham, a charlatan,
Your spells are pure baloney.
Your hogwash couldn't fool
An unsophisticated child -
What do you have to say to that?"
The wizard merely smiled.
"You see, you have no answer,"
I continued, feeling bold.
"You only use illusion
When you turn balloons to gold.
In fact, your poor pathetic act
Is practically a crime -
What do you have to say to that?"
He smiled a second time.
I escalated my harrangue,
An blared triumphantly,
"Your prestidigitation
Simply can't bamboozle me!?
The wizard smiled a wider smile.
"Piff poff, was all he said -
Since then I've been but two feet tall
And have a hamster's head.
I'm only an apprentice witch,
There's much I've left to learn,
Someday I'll be a witch-in-full,
But I must wait my turn.
My nasty brews, though noxious,
Lack a certain wretched smell,
Sometimes my spells don't work at all,
Sometimes they work to well.
I'm only an apprentice witch,
Just seven centuries old,
The elder witches lecture me
To do as I am told.
I strive to grow more hideous,
I'm working on my shriek,
And I've not fully mastered
How to cackle when I speak.
I'm only an apprentice witch
Who's barely learned to fly,
I've been afraid to go too fast,
Or venture far or high.
Just yesterday I stalled my broom,
And crashed into a ditch,
I'm clearly yet unqualified
To be a full-fledged witch.
I'm Blizzard, a wizard
Of wretched endeavor,
My whims are my own,
And I do as I choose.
I trifle with humans
For simple amusement,
I plague them with hiccups
While shrinking their shoes.
I'm Blizzard, a wizard
Of peevish demeanor,
I'm crabby, I'm cranky,
I'm crusty, I'm cross.
A wave of my wand,
You're a tree in a forest,
A blink of my eye,
And you're covered in moss.
I'm Blizzard, a wizard
Of woeful employments,
My methods are many,
My ways are bizarre.
One snap of my fingers,
You're dripping with syrup,
One twitch of my nostrils,
You're slathered with tar.
I'm Blizzard, a wizard
Of hostile intention,
I'll turn you to tallow,
To jelly, to clay -
Your presence annoys me,
You're ever unwelcome,
I'm Blizzard the wizard,
Stay out of my way!
If I were not a wizard,
With craft unkind and keen,
You wouldn't have to worry
That you might wake up green.
I couldn't, with no fanfare,
And a minimum of fuss,
Transform you into butter
Or a hippopotamus.
If I were not a wizard,
Unwaveringly weird,
You'd not have sprouted antlers
And a fifty-foot-long beard.
I'd lack the talent to transmute
Your breakfast into leaves,
And there would be no butterflies
Residing in your sleeves.
You'd find no fish and melons
Perched atop your feathered head,
Your ears would not be fashioned
Out of jam and gingerbread.
I'd never have transmogrified
Your nose into a yam,
If I were not a wizard -
But hen again . . . I am!
I'm an amiable dragon,
And I have no wish to scare,
Do not tremble at my presence,
Do ignore my lethal stare,
Do not fret about the fire
I unleash into the air,
You are free to pass unchallenged - -
But only if you dare!
I am waiting waiting waiting for my dragon egg to hatch,
I've been waiting waiting waiting for a year,
Ever since I found it hidden in my mother's garden patch - -
Now I think my baby dragon's almost here.
I have never had a dragon of my very own before,
And I wonder, will my dragon breathe a flame?
Will it greet me every morning with a friendly little roar?
Will it answer when I summon it by name?
I am counting off the seconds till my dragon first appears,
Poking through the shell to freedom with a horn,
I can't wait to see its winglets, tiny muzzle, tail and ears,
When my brand new baby dragon's finally born.
If you don't believe in dragons,
It is curiously true
That the dragons you disparage
Choose to not believe in you.
I wish I had a dragon
With diamond-studded scales,
With claws like silver sabers,
And fangs like silver nails,
A dragon fierce and faithful,
Always ready by my side,
A dragon to defend me
Or to take me for a ride.
I wish I had a dragon
With eyes of shining gold,
Who breathed a plume of fire
Whenever it was told,
A dragon so ferocious
It might frighten Frankenstein,
But not a lazy dragon
Who sleeps all day . . . like mine.
I'm a nasty, nasty dragon,
I've been nasty since my birth,
When it comes to nasty dragons,
I'm the nastiest on earth.
I've a nasty, nasty temper,
And my breath is nasty too,
I was nasty to my parents,
I'll be nastier to you.
It's my nature to be nasty,
Nasty, nasty night and day,
I will act completely nasty
If you're in my nasty way.
Yet I largely pass unnoticed
As I nastily go by,
I'm a nasty, nasty dragon
Just a nasty half inch high.
My dragon wasn't feeling good,
He had a nasty chill
And couldn't keep from shivering,
I saw that he was ill.
His eyes were red and watery,
His nose was running too,
His flame was but a fizzle,
And his cheeks were pallid blue.
I took him to a doctor
Just as quickly as I could,
A specialist in dragons,
And she's in our neighborhood.
She took his pulse and temperature,
Then fed him turpentine
And phosphorus and gasoline -
My dragon's doing fine.
I am my master's dragon,
And my master treats me well,
He calls me when he wants me,
And I answer to his bell.
He feeds me puffs of pastry
To reward me for my deeds,
And according to my master,
I have all a dragon needs.
My master fails to notice,
Though I know that he is smart,
The incalculable sadness
Deep within my dragon heart.
But I am not complaining,
I've no sorry tale to tell,
I am my master's dragon,
And my master treats me well.
Tonight is the night all the dragons
Awake in their lairs underground,
To sing in cacophonous chorus
And fill the whole world with their sound.
They sing of the days of their glory,
They sing of their exploits of old,
Of maidens and knights, and of fiery fights,
And guarding vast caches of gold.
Some of their voices are treble,
And some of their voices are deep,
But all of their voices are thunderous,
And no one can get any sleep.
I lie in my bed and I listen,
Enchanted and filled with delight,
To songs I can hear only one night a year -
The dragons are singing tonight.
I'm tired of being a dragon,
Ferocious and brimming with flame,
The cause of unspeakable terror
When anyone mentions my name.
I'm bored with my bad reputation
For being a miserable brute,
And being routinely expected
To brazenly pillage and loot.
I wish that I weren't repulsive,
Despicable, ruthless, and fierce,
With talons designed to dismember
And fangs finely fashioned to pierce.
I've lost my desire for doing
The deeds any dragon should do,
But since I can't alter my nature,
I guess I'll just terrify you.
I have a dozen dragons,
I bought them at the mall,
I keep them in my closet,
It's fortunate they're small.
Their horns are red and silver,
Their scales are green and gold,
All of them are beautiful,
And all of them are bold.
They eat vanilla ice cream,
And pickles mixed with ink,
Then run around the kitchen
And jump into the sink.
They splash about the basin
And flap their silver wings,
While breathing tiny fires
That never burn a thing.
When we go out on weekends
And stroll around the block,
The neighbors stare in wonder,
They seem to be in shock.
I may not have a puppy,
A kitten, or a bird,
But I'm the only one I know
Who has a dragon herd.
I am Boom the thunder dragon,
Taller than the tallest trees,
I stir whirlwinds when I whisper,
Mighty cyclones when I sneeze,
Fishes shiver in the ocean
When I tread upon the shore,
I make earthquakes and volcanoes
When I roar roar roar!
I am Boom the thunder dragon,
All the earth is my domain,
When I flap my wings in fury,
I create a hurricane,
Lions vanish at my footsteps,
Eagles tremble at my glance,
And the mountains start to rumble
When I dance dance dance!
Giants fly into a panic
When I rear my massive head,
When I snort my searing fires,
Fearless ogres faint with dread,
If you ever see me coming,
You had better give me room,
I am Boom the thunder dragon,
I am BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
In the mirror
On the wall,
There's a face
I always see;
Round and pink,
And rather small,
Looking back again
At me.
It is very
Rude to stare,
But she never
Thinks of that,
For her eyes are
Always there;
What can she be
Looking at?
I saw the moon,
One windy night,
Flying so fast -
All silvery white -
Over the sky
Like a toy balloon
Loose from its string -
A runaway moon.
The frosty stars
Went racing past,
Chasing her on
Ever so fast.
Then everyone said,
"It's the clouds that fly,
And the stars and the moon
Stand still in the sky."
But I don't mind -
I saw the moon
Sailing away
Like a toy
Balloon.
The ghost of bold Ned Kelly
came to haunt my Aunt Nellie,
but when it saw her in the light
it was the ghost that got the fright.
Last modified: March 3, 2017.
* These poems are the intellectual property of the authors. They are gathered here for classroom practitioner use to make connections and to apply to curriculum content.