Source: Project Gutenberg #136
Source URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/136
Public domain basis: Public-domain English poems by Robert Louis Stevenson (1885).
Coverage: Complete individual poem extracted from parent edition a-childs-garden-of-verses at bytes 30184-31243; checksum 539c46ca29ed06ddf9e30a6826df435f07c73f01d5089e06ed9ad7ee79d59dad.


# The Unseen Playmate

The Unseen Playmate

  When children are playing alone on the green,
  In comes the playmate that never was seen.
  When children are happy and lonely and good,
  The Friend of the Children comes out of the wood.

  Nobody heard him, and nobody saw,
  His is a picture you never could draw,
  But he's sure to be present, abroad or at home,
  When children are happy and playing alone.

  He lies in the laurels, he runs on the grass,
  He sings when you tinkle the musical glass;
  Whene'er you are happy and cannot tell why,
  The Friend of the Children is sure to be by!

  He loves to be little, he hates to be big,
  'Tis he that inhabits the caves that you dig;
  'Tis he when you play with your soldiers of tin
  That sides with the Frenchmen and never can win.

  'Tis he, when at night you go off to your bed,
  Bids you go to sleep and not trouble your head;
  For wherever they're lying, in cupboard or shelf,
  'Tis he will take care of your playthings himself!


                                            II