My Shadow

Source

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 12655-13696; checksum c8a54e5d35b14bb6e43f7a0e9c5a9dd3344871420536368cfa0d795a9229ec53.

# My Shadow

My Shadow

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow-- Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow; For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball, And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play, And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way. He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see; I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up, I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup; But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head, Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

XIX