A close-woven carpet was laid.

Its much patterned surface I used to admire,

And the myriad hues there displayed.

A veriest child of about five or six

I would play with my toys on the floor;

Two stalwart tin soldiers, a box full of bricks

And a woolly dog, minus a paw.

At last, growing tired, I would sprawl there alone

- while my toys on the floor lay neglected -

And stare at the rug, where the wee shadows thrown

By the flames in the wool were reflected.

Strange pictures I saw in that coloured domain

Of cherry and opal and blue;

Where orange met green, and a silvery grain

Like a river went rippling through.

An emerald field by a tower of gold,

And a dwarf with a funny red nose.

A big blue-green parrot, two hundred years old,

And a Japanese man with bare toes.

Ten blackbeareded pirates, a cat with no tail,

A bridge and a boy catching fish.

A lovely wee boat, with a little white sail,

A dragon; and plums on a dish.

Pink shells, and a tree with a nest at the top.

Brown bears, and an empty blue sea

Of splashywet waves; and a big barber's shop

With a fat stripey pole and a key.

Great mountains I saw there, all covered with snow;

The countries on Grandfather's map.

And soldiers, nice new ones, all stiff in a row,

A cannon and nurse's starched cap.

Injuns in feathers, all painted and brown.

A kangaroo playing a drum.

Those gorgeous big lollipops Gran bought in town.

A giant and little Tom Thumb.

As if Nod gave its curls a soft tug.

'Twixt fancy and dreamland my musings would blend

- I'd fall sleeping on Grandmother's rug.

Betty Mates, 1941