Here and Now Story Book / Two- to seven-year-olds

by Lucy Sprague Mitchell

THE LEAF STORY

I want to fly up in the air!
If I take two leaves in my hands and put two leaves on my feet
And the wind blows
Perhaps I’ll fly up in the air!
Listen!
Something stirs in the dried leaves,
The tree bends, the tree bows,
The wind sweeps through the brown leaves.
The brown leaves crackle and rattle and dance,
They rustle and murmur and pull at the bough,
They shiver, they quiver till they pull themselves loose
And are free.
Up, up they fly!
Little brown specks in the sky.
They twist and they spin,
They whirl and they twirl,
They teeter, they turn somersaults in the air.
Then for a moment the wind holds its breath.
Down, down, down float the leaves,
Still turning and twisting,
Still twirling and whirling,
The brown leaves float to the earth.
Puff! goes the wind,
Up they fly again
With a little soft rustling laugh.
Then down they float.
Down, down, down.
On the ground the leaves go as if walking or running.
They go and then they stop.
They scurry along,
Still twisting and turning,
Still twirling and whirling,
They hurry along,
With a soft little rustle
They tumble, they roll and they roll.

I want to fly up in the air!
If I take two leaves in my hands and put two leaves on my feet
And the wind blows,
Perhaps I’ll fly up in the air.

---

A LOCOMOTIVE

In the daytime, what am I?
In the hubbub, what am I?
A mass of iron and of steel,
Of boiler, piston, throttle, wheel,
A monster smoking up the sky,
A locomotive!
That am I!

In the darkness, what am I?
In the stillness, what am I?
Streak of light across the sky,
A clanging bell, a shriek, a cry,
A fiery demon rushing by,
A locomotive
That am I!