The Children's Hour

Grandma is doing great but not sleeping so well. The one upside about the sleepless nights, she says, is that she is remembering some of her favorite poems. She asked me to look up this poem and once I found it and started reading, she jumped in and basically recited the whole thing.

She also mentioned that she lost the poem she wrote for their 50th (the one about the first 50 years and the 10 kids). Does anyone have a copy or know of someone that may, or have it on video and could re-write it?

Grandma says "Love ya all". Here's the poem (by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) for everyone's enjoyment. If you try, you can probably almost hear Grandma's voice as your read it!

The Children's Hour

Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupation,
That is know as the children's hour.

I hear in the chamber above me
The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
And voices soft and sweet.

From my study I see in the lamplight,
Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
And Edith with golden hair.

A whisper and then a silence:
Yet I know by their merry eyes,
They are plotting and planning together,
To take me by surprise.

A sudden rush from the stairway,
A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
They enter my castle wall!

They climb up into my turret
O'er the arms and back of my chair;
If I try to escape, they surround me,
They seem to be everywhere.

They almost devour me with kisses,
Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!

Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti,
Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
Is not a match for you all?

I have you fast in my fortress
And will not let you depart,
But put you down in the dungeon
In the round-tower of my heart.

And there will I keep you forever,
Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
And moulder in dust away!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow