Foreign Lands

Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)



Up into the cherry tree
Who should climb but little me?
I held the trunk with both my hands
And looked abroad in foreign lands.

I saw the next door garden lie,
Adorned with flowers, before my eye,
And many pleasant places more
That I had never seen before.

I saw the dimpling river pass
And be the sky's blue looking-glass;
The dusty roads go up and down
With people tramping in to town.

If I could find a higher tree
Farther and farther I should see,
To where the grown-up river slips
Into the sea among the ships,

To where the road on either hand
Lead onward into fairy land,
Where all the children dine at five,
And all the playthings come alive.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

38 sec read
1,636

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABB CCDD EEFF AAGG HHII
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 657
Words 126
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. more…

All Robert Louis Stevenson poems | Robert Louis Stevenson Books

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