02 February 2009

A Poem

Poems are a part of the school curriculum Anna uses with the kids. Today they read this poem and I thought it was beautiful.

Old Log House, by James S. Tippett, in Favorite Poems Old and New, selected by Helen Ferris, Doubleday. 1957.

On a little green knoll
At the edge of the wood
My great great grandmother's
First house stood.

The house was of logs
My grandmother said
With one big room
And a lean-to shed.

The logs were cut
And the house was raised
By pioneer men
In the olden days.

I like to hear
My grandmother tell
How they built the fireplace
And dug the well.

The split the shingles;
they filled each chink;
It's a house of which
I like to think.

Forever and ever
I wish I could
Live in a house
At the edge of a wood.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I was in the 4th grade (1961) when I first read/heard this poem. We had to memorize it and to this day I still remember. It brings back the faces of my long gone teachers, friends and family (my aunt was my 4th grade teacher). I still see, in my mind's eye, Pauline McReynolds, Mona Weaverling and others citing the lyrics from memory in front of the class. We lived in simpler times then, I guess. And I also think that those who preceded us by a few decades thought they lived in simpler times.