In my six months of legal adulthood, I have come to realize the real world is missing quite a few things. But I think the most important qualities lacking are wonder, whimsy, and imagination, so I have compiled this list of five poems from my favorite obscure book of poetry, Classics to Grow On: My Poetry Book of Masterpieces in Verse by Huffard Carlisle Ferris, to inspire your inner child and jump start your imagination.
1. "The Elfin Plane" by Rowena Bennett
The dragonfly who hurries by
With hum that never varies
Is like an airplane in the sky
To elfin folk and fairies.
His motor stops, his motor starts
Without a bit of stalling.
His engine is his heart of hearts
And needs no overhauling.
2. "The Rain Song" by Robert Loveman
It is not raining rain for me,
It’s raining daffodils;
In every dimpled drop I see
Wild flowers on the hills.
The clouds of gray engulf the day
And overwhelm the town;
It is not raining rain to me,
It’s raining roses down.
It is not raining rain to me,
But fields of clover bloom,
Where any a buccaneering bee
May find a bed and room.
A health unto the happy,
A fig for him who frets!
It is not raining rain to me,
It's raining violets.
3. "Mud" by Polly Chase Boyden
Mud is very nice to feel
All squishy-squash between the toes!
I'd rather wade in wiggly mud
Than smell a yellow rose.
Nobody else but the rosebush knows
How nice mud feels
Between the toes.
4."Wind-Wolves" Willian D. Sargent
Do you hear the cry as the pack goes by,
The wind-wolves hunting across the sky?
Hear them tongue it, keen and clear,
Hot on the flanks of flying deer!
Across the forest, mere, and plain,
Their hunting howl goes up again!
All night they'll follow the ghostly trail,
All night we'll hear their phantom wail,
For tonight the wind-wolf pack holds sway
From Pegasus Square to the Milky Way,
And the frightened bands of cloud-deer flee,
In scattered groups of two and three.
5. "Eletelephony" by Laura Elizabeth Richards
Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant—
No! no! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone—
(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I've got it right.)
Howe'er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telephee—
(I fear I'd better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)
And there you have it!
I hope you've found a verse
That sticks within in your mind
Because a life lived between the lines
Is truly undefined.
And enjoy your imagination
As it continues to grow,
Not thwarted by determination
But fed by fuel and flow.
