Poetry Selections for Kindergarten The Song of Hiawatha By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Lines 65-115) By the shining Big-Sea-Water, Warriors with their plumes and war-clubs, Flaring far away to northward Stood the wigwam of Nokomis, In the frosty nights of Winter; Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis. Showed the broad white road in heaven, Dark behind it rose the forest, Pathway of the ghosts, the shadows, Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees, Rose the firs with cones upon them; Running straight across the heavens, Crowded with the ghosts, the shadows. Bright before it beat the water, At the door on summer evenings Beat the clear and sunny water, Sat the little Hiawatha; Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water. Heard the whispering of the pine-trees, There the wrinkled old Nokomis Nursed the little Hiawatha, Heard the lapping of the waters, Sounds of music, words of wonder; Rocked him in his linden cradle, “Minne-wawa!” said the pine-trees, Bedded soft in moss and rushes, “Mudway-aushka!” said the water. Safely bound with reindeer sinews; Saw the fire-fly, Wah-wah-taysee, Stilled his fretful wail by saying, “Hush! the Naked Bear will hear thee!” Flitting through the dusk of evening, With the twinkle of its candle Lulled him into slumber, singing, Lighting up the brakes and bushes, “Ewa-yea! my little owlet! And he sang the song of children, Who is this, that lights the wigwam? Sang the song Nokomis taught him: With his great eyes lights the wigwam? Ewa-yea! my little owlet!” “Wah-wah-taysee, little fire-fly, Little, flitting, white-fire insect, Many things Nokomis taught him Little, dancing, white-fire creature, Of the stars that shine in heaven; Light me with your little candle, Showed him Ishkoodah, the comet, Ere upon my bed I lay me, Ishkoodah, with fiery tresses; Showed the Death-Dance of the spirits, Poetry Selections for Kindergarten The Frog and the Centipede What Do the Stars Do Anonymous Christina Rossetti A centipede was happy quite, What do the stars do until a frog in fun said: Up in the sky, "Pray tell which leg comes after which?" Higher than the wind can blow, This raised her mind to such a pitch, Or the clouds can fly? She lay distracted in a ditch, Each star in its own glory Considering how to run. Circles, circles still; As it was lit to shine and set, And do its Maker's will. Fog Carl Sandburg (Limerick) There was an Old Person whose Habits The fog comes Anonymous on little cat feet. There was an Old Person whose habits, It sits looking Induced him to feed upon rabbits; over harbor and city When he'd eaten eighteen, on silent haunches He turned perfectly green, and then moves on. Upon which he relinquished those habits. (Limerick) All Things Bright and Beautiful (refrain) There was an Old Person of Burton Cecil F. Alexander Edward Lear All things bright and beautiful, There was an Old Person of Burton, All creatures great and small, Whose answers were rather uncertain; All things wise and wonderful: When they said, ‘How d’ye do?’ The Lord God made them all. He replied, ‘Who are you?’ That distressing Old Person of Burton. The Sea Monster’s Snack Charles Thompson Deep down upon his sandy bed The monster turned his slimy head, Grinned and licked his salty lip And ate another bag of ships. Agape Christi Academy Poetry Selections (K-6 grade) 2 Poetry Selections for Kindergarten Ooey Gooey Happy Thought Edwin Larson Robert Louis Stevenson Ooey Gooey was a worm THE WORLD is so full of a number of things, A wiggly worm was he I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings. He climbed upon the railroad tracks The train he did not see.... He Prayeth Well ...OOOOOEEEE GOOOOEEE! From Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Lines 613-618) Samuel Taylor Coleridge Christmas Day And Every Day George MacDonald He prayeth well, who loveth well Both man and bird and beast. Star high, He prayeth best, who loveth best Baby low: All things both great and small; 'Twixt the two For the dear God who loveth us, Wise men go; He made and loveth all.' Find the baby, Grasp the star- Heirs of all things The Moon’s The North Wind’s Cooky Near and far! (What the Little Girl Said) Vachel Lindsay Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread The Moon's the North Wind's cooky. Maltbie Babcock He bites it, day by day, Until there's but a rim of scraps, Back of the loaf is the snowy flour, That crumble all away. And back of the flour is the mill, And back of the mill is the wheat and the The South Wind is a baker. shower, He kneads clouds in his den, And the sun and the Father’s will. And bakes a crisp new moon that...greedy North...Wind...eats...again! First Snow Mary Louise Allen Snow makes whiteness where it falls, The bushes look like popcorn balls. The places where I always play, Look like somewhere else today. Agape Christi Academy Poetry Selections (K-6 grade) 3 First Grade Poetry Selections Paul Revere’s Ride Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Listen my children and you shall hear To the highest window in the wall, Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, Where he paused to listen and look down On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-fie; A moment on the roofs of the town Hardly a man is now alive And the moonlight flowing over all. Who remembers that famous day and year. Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead, He said to his friend, "If the British march In their night encampment on the hill, By land or sea from the town to-night, Wrapped in silence so deep and still Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread, Of the North Church tower as a signal light,-- The watchful night-wind, as it went One if by land, and two if by sea; Creeping along from tent to tent, And I on the opposite shore will be, And seeming to whisper, "All is well!" Ready to ride and spread the alarm A moment only he feels the spell Through every Middlesex village and farm, Of the place and the hour, and the secret For the country folk to be up and to arm." dread Then he said "Good-night!" and with muffled Of the lonely belfry and the dead; oar For suddenly all his thoughts are bent Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore, On a shadowy something far away, Just as the moon rose over the bay, Where the river widens to meet the bay,-- Where swinging wide at her moorings lay A line of black that bends and floats The Somerset, British man-of-war; On the rising tide like a bridge of boats. A phantom ship, with each mast and spar Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride, Across the moon like a prison bar, Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride And a huge black hulk, that was magnified On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere. By its own reflection in the tide. Now he patted his horse's side, Meanwhile, his friend through alley and Now he gazed at the landscape far and near, street Then, impetuous, stamped the earth, Wanders and watches, with eager ears, And turned and tightened his saddle girth; Till in the silence around him he hears But mostly he watched with eager search The muster of men at the barrack door, The belfry tower of the Old North Church, The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet, As it rose above the graves on the hill, And the measured tread of the grenadiers, Lonely and spectral and sombre and still. Marching down to their boats on the shore. And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height Then he climbed the tower of the Old North A glimmer, and then a gleam of light! Church, He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns, By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread, But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight To the belfry chamber overhead, A second lamp in the belfry burns. And startled the pigeons from their perch A hurry of hoofs in a village street, On the sombre rafters, that round him made A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, Masses and moving shapes of shade,-- By the trembling ladder, steep and tall, Agape Christi Academy Poetry Selections (K-6 grade) 4 First Grade Poetry Selections And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a At the bloody work they would look upon. spark It was two by the village clock, Struck out by a steed flying fearless and When he came to the bridge in Concord fleet; town.He heard the bleating of the flock, That was all! And yet, through the gloom And the twitter of birds among the trees, and the light, And felt the breath of the morning breeze The fate of a nation was riding that night; Blowing over the meadow brown. And the spark struck out by that steed, in his And one was safe and asleep in his bed flight, Who at the bridge would be first to fall, Kindled the land into flame with its heat. Who that day would be lying dead, He has left the village and mounted the Pierced by a British musket ball. steep, You know the rest.