A. A. Milne

“ Uncle John, have you seen my mouse?
Just a small sort of mouse, a dear little brown one,
He came from the country, he wasn’t a town one,
So he’ll feel all lonely in a London street;
Why, what could he possibly find to eat?
[54]
He must be somewhere. ”

“ This is a very fine name for a swan, because, if you call him and he doesn’t come (which is a thing swans are good at) , then you can pretend that you were just saying “Pooh!” to show how little you wanted him. Well, I should have told you that there are six cows who come down to Pooh’s lake every afternoon to drink, and of course they say “Moo” as they come. So I thought to myself one fine day, walking with my friend Christopher Robin, “Moo rhymes with Pooh! Surely there is a bit of poetry to be got out of that?” Well, then, I began to think about the swan on his lake ”

“ They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace—
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
Alice is marrying one of the guard.
“A soldier’s life is terrible hard,”
Says Alice. ”

“ Christopher Robin goes
Hoppity, hoppity,
Hoppity, hoppity, hop.
Whenever I tell him
Politely to stop it, he
Says he can’t possibly stop.
[61]
If he stopped hopping, he couldn’t go anywhere,
Poor little Christopher
Couldn’t go anywhere . . .
That’s why he always goes
Hoppity, hoppity,
Hoppity,
Hoppity,
Hop.
[62]
AT HOME
I want a soldier
(A soldier in a busby) ,
I want a soldier to come and play with me.
I’d give him cream-cakes
(Big ones, sugar ones) ,
I’d give him cream-cakes and cream for his tea.
I want a soldier
(A tall one, a red one) ,
I want a soldier who plays on the drum. ”

“ I’d ask an elephant to stay.
If I were King of Babylon,
I’d leave my button gloves undone.
If I were King of Timbuctoo,
I’d think of lovely things to do.
If I were King of anything,
I’d tell the soldiers, “I’m the King!”
[99]
VESPERS
Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,
Droops on the little hands little gold head.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.
God bless Mummy. I know that’s right.
Wasn’t it fun in the bath to-night?
The cold’s so cold, and the hot’s so hot. ”

“ JUST BEFORE WE BEGIN At one time (but I have changed my mind now) I thought I was going to write a little Note at the top of each of these poems, in the manner of Mr. William Wordsworth, who liked to tell his readers where he was staying, and which of his friends he was walking with, and what he was thinking about, when the idea of writing his poem came to him. You will find some lines about a swan here, if you get as far as that, and I should have explained to you in the Note that Christopher Robin, who feeds this swan in the mornings, has given him the name of “Pooh.” ”

“ Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair
Where I sit.
There isn’t any
Other stair
Quite like
It.
I’m not at the bottom,
I’m not at the top;
So this is the stair
Where
I always
Stop.
Halfway up the stairs
Isn’t up,
And isn’t down.
It isn’t in the nursery,
It isn’t in the town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head:
“It isn’t really
Anywhere!
It’s somewhere else
Instead!” ”

“ A little baby rabbit,
And I looked for rabbits
’Most everywhere.
And I went to the stall where they sold fresh mackerel
(“Now then! Tuppence for a fresh-caught mackerel!”)
“Have you got a rabbit, ’cos I don’t like mackerel?”
But they hadn’t got a rabbit, not anywhere there.
[24]
[25]
I found a sixpence,
A little white sixpence.
I took it in my hand
To the market square.
I was buying my rabbit
(I do like rabbits) ,
And I looked for my rabbit
’Most everywhere.
So I went to the stall where they sold fine saucepans
(“Walk up, walk up, sixpence for a saucepan!”) . ”

“ Leonard started roaring, and shivered his stall,
James gave the huffle of a snail in danger
And nobody heard him at all.
Ernest started trumpeting and raised such a rumpus
Leonard started roaring and trying to kick,
James went a journey with the goat’s new compass
And he reached the end of his brick.
Ernest was an elephant and very well-intentioned,
Leonard was a lion with a brave new tail,
George was a goat, as I think I have mentioned,
But James was only a snail.
[12]
LINES AND SQUARES
Whenever I walk in a London street,
I’m ever so careful to watch my feet ”

“ There lives an old man at the top of the street
And the end of his beard reaches down to his feet,
And he’s just the one person I’m longing to meet,
I think that he sounds so exciting;
For he talks all the day to his tortoiseshell cat,
And he asks about this, and explains about that,
And at night he puts on a big wide-awake1 hat
And sits in the writing-room, writing.
He has worked all his life (and he’s terribly old)
At a wonderful spell which says, “Lo, and behold! ”

“ What is the matter with Mary Jane?
What is the matter with Mary Jane?
She’s perfectly well and she hasn’t a pain,
And it’s lovely rice pudding for dinner again!—
What is the matter with Mary Jane?
[52]
MISSING
Has anybody seen my mouse? ”

“ Sir Brian had a pair of boots with great big spurs on,
A fighting pair of which he was particularly fond.
On Tuesday and on Friday, just to make the street look tidy,
He’d collect the passing villagers and kick them in the pond.
“I am Sir Brian!” (sper-lash)
“I am Sir Brian!” (sper-losh!)
“I am Sir Brian, as bold as a lion—
Is anyone else for a wash?”
[93]
Sir Brian woke one morning, and he couldn’t find his battle­axe ”

“ James James
Morrison Morrison
Weatherby George Dupree
Took great
Care of his Mother,
Though he was only three.
James James
Said to his Mother,
“Mother,” he said, said he;
“You must never go down to the end of the town, if you don’t go down with me.”
James James
Morrison’s Mother
Put on a golden gown,
James James
Morrison’s Mother
Drove to the end of the town.
James James
Morrison’s Mother
Said to herself, said she:
“I can get right down to the end of the town and be back in time for tea.” ”

“ But they didn’t wear coats and they didn’t wear trousies,
And they didn’t wear stockings and they didn’t wear sockses.
[41]
POLITENESS
If people ask me,
I always tell them:
“Quite well, thank you, I’m very glad to say.”
If people ask me,
I always answer,
“Quite well, thank you, how are you to-day?”
I always answer,
I always tell them,
If they ask me
Politely. . . .
BUT SOMETIMES
I wish
That they wouldn’t. ”

“ But I gave buns to the elephant when I went down to the Zoo!
[47]
If you try to talk to the bison, he never quite understands;
You can’t shake hands with a mingo—he doesn’t like shaking hands.
And lions and roaring tigers hate saying, “How do you do?”—
But I give buns to the elephant when I go down to the Zoo!
[48]
RICE PUDDING
What is the matter with Mary Jane? ”

“ Fast asleep on his front with his paws to his eyes.
[71]
SHOES AND STOCKINGS
There’s a cavern in the mountain where the old men meet
(Hammer, hammer, hammer . . .
Hammer, hammer, hammer . . .)
They make gold slippers for my lady’s feet
(Hammer, hammer, hammer . . .
Hammer, hammer, hammer . . .) ”