The poems of childhood linger long after

A poem popped into my RSS reader and lead me down memory lane to revisit the three poems I most vividly remember my Mom reading to me, time and again. [Some may recall I loved to quote this first one years after I learned it.]

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear : The Poetry Foundation

"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love, 
   What a beautiful Pussy you are, 
         You are, 
         You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear : The Poetry Foundation

I still have the giant book from which my Mom first read this to me. The book has lush illustrations we both loved. (I still remember the smell of its slick pages.)

CatStuff: The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat

The Duel
by Eugene Field

The gingham dog and the calico cat
Side by side on the table sat; …

CatStuff: The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat

I think this was my Mom’s favorite.

The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside–
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown–
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson

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