What Uncle Rob Says

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919



Uncle Rob says,
That once on a time the fire flies
Were stars with the others up in the skies.

They used to shimmer, and dance and play,
Night after night in the Milky Way.

But when their papa, the stern old Sun
Said 'off to bed with you every one,'

These bold little stars refused to obey,
'Let's hide in that cloud and then run away.'

'Let's run to the earth,' these bad stars said
'We are quite too old to be sent to bed.'

So then they were exiled out of the skies,
And that's how we came with the fire flies,
So Uncle Rob says.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 26, 2023

33 sec read
119

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABB CC DD CC EE BBA
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 526
Words 114
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. more…

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