And shine again in your place.

O velvet bee, you’re a dusty fellow;

You’ve powdered your legs with gold!

O brave marshmary buds, rich and yellow,

Give me your money to hold.

And show me your nest with the young ones in it—

I will not steal it away;

I am old! you may trust me, linnet, linnet—

I am seven years old to-day!—Jean Ingelow

Spend the rest of the week teaching the poem to the children. They always enjoy this poem, one generation of little folks after another. Did you not?