When Mother reads aloud, the past
Seems real as every day;
I hear the tramp of armies vast;
I see the spears and lances cast,
I join the trilling fray;
Braves knights and ladies fair and proud
I meet when Mother reads aloud.
When Mother reads aloud, far lands
Seem very near and true;
I cross the desert's gleaming sands,
Or hunt the jungle's prowling bands,
Or sail the ocean blue.
Far heights, whose peaks the cold mists shroud,
I scale, when Mother reads aloud.
When Mother reads aloud, I long
For noble deeds to do--
To help the right, redress the wrong;
It seems so easy to be strong,
So simple to be true.
Oh, thick and fast the vision crowd
My eyes, when Mother reads aloud.
--Anonymous
From Famous Poems Old and New, selected by Helen Ferris
