POETRY: The Little People

RUBY LUCILLE SMITH

POETRY: The Little People

The following are poems Ruby wrote about her children: Katherine, Daniel and Richard. From what I gather from these gems, is she wrote them probably in the 1940's when the kids were very young. Seems as if the kids often inspired her creative thinking and she turned those moments into that art we all can admire and treasure called poetry.

The following poems are below.: Angel Mine, An Auto Ride, My Average Boy and Bedtime. (See little People page two for others)

  Angel Mine

It was a summer day

     My son just in from play

Took a bite of a sugar bun,

     Asked, "Mom, where did I come from?"

I poured some milk into his glass;

     How would I answer what was asked?

So on his cheek I placed a kiss

     Then told him a story like this:

One day, my dear, I breathed a prayer,

     In my heart I held it there;

I asked of God up above

     To send a child I would Love.

God looked over his angels, then

     Found the one just right to send;

He asked the one, "Will it be

     That you will go and return to me?"

The angel asked, "Where will I go?"

     God said, "To the earth below

And there I will watch over you

     Where you are I will be too."

The angel said, "I will go."

     God pleased, blessed him, so

sent the angel and part of heaven, too,

     When, my angel, he sent me you.

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   An Auto Ride

Take me for an auto ride,

    Please, oh mommy, do

I want to see the country side,

    Discover things thats new.

Up the hills higher than trees,

    Down again we will go,

And all along I will see

    The things that thrill me so.

Could I watch the boats

    Under the bridge so high?

Mom, what makes them float?

    Do they ever fly?

Could I see the planes in the sky,

    I would like to see them come and go,

If you would stop by

    I will love you so.

Let us stop at Grannys house,

    She doesnt live so far,

She could see my new blouse,

    I could look in her cookie jar.

Now who among us could resist

    With her so close at ones side?

With a loving tender kiss

    We took an auto ride.

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My Average Boy

I would rather have my average boy

     Than a genius anytime,

One who with great joy

     Crowds in time to dine.

All the things he collects

     And puts carefully away

Are treasures he'll inspect

     Upon a rainy day.

The yard is his play-time ranch,

     The plastic pool his sea;

Wonderment of his mind

     Makes him what he wants to be.

He is captain on an ocean,

     A pirate on a sea

Or just a fisherman

     He might want to be.

Fighting battles on land,

     Never to know retreat

As he guards castles of sand,

     Tin soldiers at his feet.

Roaming risky jungles

     Stuffed animals for game,

Searching for adventure

     On a western plain.

So true to his tender years

     Loving his time of play

Yet knows how to be sincere

     As he kneels to pray.

Angel, write in your sacred pad

     My life is now sublime,

I would rather have my average boy

     Than a genius anytime.

Bed Time

At night after prayers are said

My mother tucks me into bed;

I watch the clouds go drifting by

When the moon is shining high.

Sometimes as I look I find

A little doggie just like mine;

One night he barked at me

As he sailed across the moon-lit sea.

I find all sorts of things up there,

Lions, tigers and great big bears,

Ships that are sailing out to sea,

Often the sailors wave to me.

Sometimes the moon plays peek-a-boo,

I look for stars and they do too,

When they come out they wink at me

And I wink back for them to see.

I watch the clouds up in the sky

Until I close my sleepy eyes

And the dream fairy hops on my bed,

Then I go with her instead.