The Family

Katherine Mansfield 1888 (Wellington) – 1923 (Fontainebleau, Île-de-France)



Hinemoa, Tui, Maina,
All of them were born together;
They are quite an extra special
Set of babies--wax and leather.

Every day they took an airing;
Mummy made them each a bonnet;
Two were cherry, one was yellow
With a bow of ribbon on it.

Really, sometimes we would slap them,
For if ever we were talking,
They would giggle and be silly,
Saying, "Mamma, take us walking."

But we never really loved them
Till one day we left them lying
In the garden--through a hail-storm,
And we heard the poor dears crying.

Half-Past-Six said--"You're a mother!
What if Mummy did forget you?"
So I said, "Well, you're their Father.
Get them!" but I wouldn't let you.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
99

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXA BXXX CBXB CBXB ADAD
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 639
Words 122
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield Beauchamp Murry was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction who was born and brought up in colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. more…

All Katherine Mansfield poems | Katherine Mansfield Books

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