"Put The World In Your Pocket" by Bobbi Katz

Put The World In Your Pocket

by Bobbi Katz

Pockets are nifty

for holding a quarter,

for holding a key,

or for holding a shell.

But the world is full of many more things

that don't fit in pockets so very well:

You can't put spring in a pocket-

not summer,

not winter,

not fall.

How could you pocket a giggle?

An elephant won't fit at all!

Yet you can carry a sunset,

people, the sea, or a home

neatly tucked inside a pocket,

when they're tucked inside a poem.

"My Shadow" by Robert Louis Stevenson

My Shadow

by Robert Louis Stevenson

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, 

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. 

He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; 

And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed. 

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow— 

Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow; 

For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball, 

And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all. 

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play, 

And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way. 

He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see; 

I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me! 

One morning, very early, before the sun was up, 

I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup; 

But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head, 

Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

"Every Day" by Naomi Shihab Nye

Every Day

by Naomi Shihab Nye

My hundred year old next door neighbor told me:

every day is a good day if you have it.

I had to think about that a minute.

She said, Every day is a present

someone left at your birthday place at the table.

Trust me! It may not feel like that

but it's true. When you're my age

you'll know. Twelve is a treasure.

And it's up to you

to unwrap the package gently,

lift out the gleaming hours

wrapped in tissue,

don't miss the bottom of the box.