Block City

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



What are you able to build with your blocks?
Castles and palaces, temples and docks.
Rain may keep raining, and others go roam,
But I can be happy and building at home.

Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea,
There I'll establish a city for me:
A kirk and a mill and a palace beside,
And a harbor as well where my vessels may ride.

Great is the palace with pillar and wall,
A sort of a tower on top of it all,
And steps coming down in an orderly way
To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay.

This one is sailing and that one is moored:
Hark to the song of the sailors on board!
And see on the steps of my palace, the kings
Coming and going with presents and things!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 27, 2023

42 sec read
246

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABB CCDD EEFF XXGG
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 669
Words 140
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 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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