Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850–1894). A Child’s Garden of Verses and Underwoods. 1913.

38. From a Railway Carriage


FASTER than fairies, faster than witches,

Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;

And charging along like troops in a battle,

All through the meadows the horses and cattle:

All of the sights of the hill and the plain 5

Fly as thick as driving rain;

And ever again, in the wink of an eye,

Painted stations whistle by.


Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,

All by himself and gathering brambles; 10

Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;

And there is the green for stringing the daisies!

Here is a cart run away in the road

Lumping along with man and load;

And here is a mill and there is a river: 15

Each a glimpse and gone for ever!



(quoted in Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear)