Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BED-TIME, by BURGES JOHNSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BED-TIME, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Last year my bed-time was at eight
Last Line: "and it's time you went to bed!"
Subject(s): Children; Sleep; Time; Childhood


Last year my bed-time was at eight,
And every single night
I used to wish the clock would wait,
Or else stay out of sight.
It always seemed to me
The next half-hour'd be
The nicest time of all the day
If mother would agree.
But she always shook her head
And she sort of jumped, and said,
'Why, it's late—after eight—
And it's time you were in bed!"

That clock would always do its best
To sit all quiet there,
Until I was my comfyest
In some big easy chair.
Then its striking would begin,
And I'd tell my Motherkin
How I'd just begun a chapter,
And it was so int'restin'—
And the end was just ahead—
But she usurully said,
"No; it's late—after eight—
And it's time to go to bed!"

And now my bed-time is ha-past,—
But yet that old clock does
The same mean tricks—it's just as fast,
Or faster, than it was.
Last night it seemed to me
The next half-hour 'd be
The nicest time of all the day
If mother would agree.
But she smiled and shook her head,
And she kissed me while she said,
"Why, it's late—ha-past eight—
And it's time you went to bed!"





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