The morns are meeker than they were. The nuts are getting brown; The berry’s cheek is plumper, The rose is out of town.

1. Autumn Emily Dickinson The morns are meeker than they were. The nuts are getting brown; The berry’s cheek is plumper, The rose is out of town. The maple wears a gayer scarf, The field a scarlet gown. Lest I should be old-fashioned, I’ll put a trinket on.

2. Who Has Seen the Wind? Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you; But when the leaves hang trembling The wind is passing through. Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I; But when the trees bow down their heads The wind is passing by. -Christina Rossetti

3. Afternoon on a Hill Edna St. Vincent Millay I will be the gladdest thing Under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers And not pick one. I will look at cliffs and clouds With quiet eyes, Watch the wind bow down the grass, And the grass rise. And when lights begin to show Up from the town, I will mark which must be mine, And then start down!

4. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Robert Frost Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound’s the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

5. Something Told the Wild Geese Rachel Field Something told the wild geeseIt was time to go;Though the fields lay goldenSomething whispered, . . . "Snow".Leaves were green and stirring,Berries luster-glossed,But beneath warm feathersSomething cautioned . . . "frost"All the sagging orchard steamed with amber spiceBut each wild breast stiffened at remember "ice".Something told the wild geese it was time to fly.Summer sun was on their wingsWinter in their cry!

6. The mother eats the moths and gnats she catches In full flight; in full flight The mother drinks the water of the pond She skims across. Her baby hangs on tight. Her baby drinks the milk she makes him In moonlight or starlight, in mid-air. Their single shadow, printed on the moon Or fluttering across the stars, Whirls on all night; at daybreak The tired mother flaps home to her rafter. The others are all there. They hang themselves up by their toes, They wrap themselves in their brown wings. Bunched upside down, they sleep in air. Their sharp ears, their sharp teeth, their quick sharp faces Are dull and slow and mild. All the bright day, as the mother sleeps, She folds her wings about her sleeping child. A Bat is Born A bat is born Naked and blind and pale. His mother makes a pocket of her tail And catches him. He clings to her long fur By his thumbs and toes and teeth. And them the mother dances through the night Doubling and looping, soaring, somersaulting— Her baby hangs on underneath. All night, in happiness, she hunts and flies Her sharp cries Like shining needlepoints of sound Go out into the night and, echoing back, Tell her what they have touched. She hears how far it is, how big it is, Which way it’s going: She lives by hearing. -Randall Jarrell

7. I always like summer best you can eat fresh corn from daddy’s garden and okra and greens and cabbage and lots of barbecue and buttermilk and homemade ice-cream at the church picnic and listen to gospel music outside at the church homecoming and you go to the mountains with your grandmother and go barefooted and be warm all the time not only when you go to bed and sleep Knoxville, Tennessee Nikki Giovanni

8. Dot a dot dotdot a dot dotSpotting the windowpane.Spack a spack speck flick a flack fleckFreckling the windowpane.A spatter a scatter a wet cat a clatterA splatter a rumble outside.Umbrella umbrellaumbrellaumbrellaBumbershoot barrel of rain.Slosh a galosh slosh a galoshSlither and slather a glideA puddle a jump a puddle a jumpA puddle a jump puddle sploshA juddle a pump a luddle a dumpA pudmuddle jump in and slide! Weather Eve Merriam

9. The Pied Piper of Hamelin Robert Browning By famous Hanover city; The river Weser, deep and wide, Washes its wall on the southern side; A pleasanter spot you never spied; But, when begins my ditty, Almost five hundred years ago, To see the townsfolk suffer so From vermin, was a pity. Rats! They fought the dogs and killed the cats, And bit the babies in the cradles, And ate the cheeses out of the vats. And licked the soup from the cook’s own ladles, Split open the kegs of salted sprats, Made nests inside men’s Sunday hats, And even spoiled the women’s chats, By drowning their speaking With shrieking and squeaking In fifty different sharps and flats. At last the people in a body To the Town Hall came flocking: “Tis clear,” cried they, “our Mayor’s a noddy; And as for our Corporation—shocking To think we buy gowns lined with ermine For dolts that can’t or won’t determine What’s best to rid us of our vermin! You hope, because you’re old and obese, To find in the furry civic robe ease? Rouse up, sirs! Give your brains a racking To find the remedy we’re lacking, Or, sure as fate, we’ll send you packing!” At this the Mayor and Corporation Quaked with a mighty consternation.

10. Your World Georgia Douglas Johnson Your world is as big as you make it. I know, for I used to abide In the narrowest nest in a corner, My wings pressing close to my side. But I sighted the distant horizon Where the skyline encircled the sea And I throbbed with a burning desire To travel this immensity. I battered the cordons around me And cradled my wings on the breeze, Then soared to the uttermost reaches With rapture, with power, with ease!

11. Your World Georgia Douglas Johnson Your world is as big as you make it. I know, for I used to abide In the narrowest nest in a corner, My wings pressing close to my side. But I sighted the distant horizon Where the skyline encircled the sea And I throbbed with a burning desire To travel this immensity. I battered the cordons around me And cradled my wings on the breeze, Then soared to the uttermost reaches With rapture, with power, with ease!

12. Light Night Is Our Parchment Fireflies Flitting Fireflies Glimmering Glowing Insect Calligraphers Practicing Penmanship Six-Legged scribblers Of vanishing messages, Fine artists in flight Adding dabs of light Signing the June nights As if they were paintings Flickering, fireflies, fireflies. Light Is the ink we use Night We’re fireflies Flickering Flashing Fireflies gleaming Insect calligraphers Copying sentences Six-legged calligraphers Fleeting graffiti Fine artists in flight Bright brush strokes Signing the June nights As if they were paintings We’re fireflies, flickering fireflies… Fireflies Paul Fleischman

13. The Song of the Jellicles Jellicle Cats are white and black,Jellicle Cats are of moderate size;Jellicle Cats jump like a jumping-jack,Jellicle Cats have moonlit eyes.They're quitet enough in the morning hours,They're quitet enough in the afternoon,Reserving their terpsichorean powersTo dance by the light of the Jellicle Moon. Jellicle Cats are black and white,Jellicle Cats (as I said) are small;If it happends to be a stormy nightThey will practise a caper or two in the hall.If it happens the sun is shining brightYou would say they had nothing to do at all:They are resting and saving themselves to be rightFor the Jellicle Moon and the Jellicle Ball. T. S. elliot Jellicle Cats come out to-nightJellicle Cats come one come all:The Jellicle Moon is shining bright -Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball. Jellicle Cats are black and white,Jellicle Cats are rather small;Jellicle Cats are merry and bright,And pleasant to hear when they caterwaul.Jellicle Cats have cheerful faces,Jellicle Cats have bright black eyes;They like to practise their airs and gracesAnd wait for the Jellicle Moon to rise. Jellicle Cats develop slowly,Jellicle Cats are not too big;Jellicle Cats are roly-poly,They know how to dance a gavotte and a jig.Until the Jellicle Moon appearsThey make their toilette and take their repose:Jellicle Cats wash behind their ears,Jellicle dry between their toes.