Now We Are Six

Lords of the Nursery

Wait in a row,

Five on the high wall,

And four on the low;

Big Kings and Little Kings,

Brown Bears and Black,

All of them waiting

Till John comes back.

Some think that John boy

Is lost in the wood,

Some say he couldn’t be,

Some say he could.

Some think that John boy

Hides on the hill;

Some say he won’t come back,

Some say he will.

High was the sun, when

John went away…

Here they’ve been waiting

All through the day;

Big Bears and Little Bears,

White Kings and Black,

All of them waiting

Till John comes back.

Lords of the Nursery

Looked down the hill,

Some saw the sheep-fold,

Some saw the mill;

Some saw the roofs

Of the little grey town…

And their shadows grew long

As the sun slipt down.

Gold between the poplars

An old moon shows;

Silver up the star-way

The full moon rose;

Silver down the star-way

The old moon crept…

And, one by another,

The grey fields slept.

Lords of the Nursery

Their still watch keep…

They hear from the sheep-fold

The rustle of sheep.

A young bird twitters

And hides its head;

A little wind suddenly

Breathes, and is dead.

Slowly and slowly

Dawns the new day…

What’s become of John boy?

No one can say.

Some think that John boy

Is lost on the hill;

Some say he won’t come back,

Some say he will.

What’s become of John boy?

Nothing at all ,

He played with his skipping rope ,

He played with his ball .

He ran after butterflies ,

Blue ones and red;

He did a hundred happy things—

And then went to bed .