A Secret



A little baby went to sleep
One night in his white bed,
And the moon came by to take a peep
At the little baby head.
  
A wind, as wandering winds will do,
Brought to the baby there
Sweet smells from some quaint flower that grew
Out on some hill somewhere.
  
And wind and flower and pale moonbeam
About the baby's bed
Stirred and woke the funniest dream
In the little sleepy head.
  
He thought he was all sorts of things
From a lion to a cat;
Sometimes he thought he flew on wings,
Or fell and fell, so that
  
When morning broke he was right glad
But much surprised to see
Himself a soft, pink little lad
Just like he used to be.
  
I would not give this story fame
If there were room to doubt it,
But when he learned to talk, he came
And told me all about it.
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

47 sec read
4

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD EBEB FGFG HIHI JKJK
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 740
Words 157
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

John Charles McNeill

John Charles McNeill (1874-1907) was a Wake Forest alumni and one of North Carolina's most celebrated poets. His published works include Songs of Merry and Sad and Lyrics From the Cotton Land, the latter of which was published posthumously. more…

All John Charles McNeill poems | John Charles McNeill Books

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