A Ball of Gold: Poems for Children
Andrew Lansdown (author)
Susan Lansdown (illustrator)
Artlook Books (Perth), 1980
ISBN 0-865445-000-1
Six Poems from A Ball of Gold
The Sun
The sun is a ball of gold
tied to a see-through string,
and an invisible man, who is very old,
says it belongs to him.
He pulls on the string all day long
until the sun is out of sight,
then he scuttles off, without a song,
to bury it for the night.
But he digs so fast
and he digs so deep
he goes through the earth and past!
Then he moans ’cause he’s had no sleep
and groans ’cause it’s such a way
as he hauls it back across the sky all day.
© Andrew Lansdown
There Was an Old African Elephant
There was an old African elephant
who was always terribly irrelevant.
When they asked, “What do you think?”,
he would simply turn pink
with a chortle, a nudge and a wink.
Said the giraffe in a huff,
“That’s hardly good enough!
We ask you a question
expecting a suggestion
but you reply in another direction.”
Well, if you’ve the brain of a pigeon
you can easily imagine
how the elephant was upset.
He fell to the ground and sobbed and wept
until the giraffe hung his head in regret.
© Andrew Lansdown
Fairy Wrens
Their tails stream out
as they flit from a thicket.
They fly without a sound,
the blue male, the grey hens.
And they run along the ground
as if they’re playing cricket.
Just look at them, the fairy wrens,
with their tails set up as wickets!
© Andrew Lansdown
Water Work
“What is he doing?” asked the daughter
seeing her father dressed up for water—
with wet suit and flippers on,
garden gloves and a shower cap on his scone.
“It’s not as you might suppose, dear,”
whispered mother into her daughter’s ear.
“He’s not off to the beach for a wade,
he’s simply gone to change the babe.”
© Andrew Lansdown
Master Fire
The fire is cold.
He shivers
among the damp bracken
and dead branches
of the windrow.
He peeps between the tangled twigs
then quickly pulls a blanket of smoke
up over his head.
He hugs himself,
huddles against the bark
down there in the dark
at the bottom of the pile.
I prod him with a stick,
but it’s no use.
He won’t come out.
He’s cold.
He wants to stay in bed.
The sun is out, the rain is gone,
the cattle no longer breathe smoke
in the morning air.
But that’s not good enough
for Master Fire! Oh no!
He wants to stay in bed!
Give him another jab.
It’s for his own good.
If he takes hold of that great trunk
he’ll brighten its belly
and keep himself warm
for weeks into winter.
© Andrew Lansdown
Stars and Moon
Mr Night seems to excel
at untidiness. He’s simply
scruffy. There’s always
dandruff on his shoulders
and sometimes there’s a nail-
clipping on his lapel!
© Andrew Lansdown
See seven more of Andrew’s poems for children:
Click on ”Children’s Poetry Collections“
then click on the cover of “Sample Children’s Poems“.