25th April Anzac Day, Walter de la Mare (1873 - 1956) David Kirk (1955)

SOME ONE

Some one came knocking
At my wee, small door;
Some one came knocking,
I'm sure - sure - sure;
I listened, I opened,
I looked to left and right,
But naught there was a-stirring
In the still dark night;

Only the busy beetle
Tap-tapping in the wall,
Only from the forest
The screech-owl's call,

Only the cricket whistling
While the dewdrops fall,
So I know not who came knocking,
At all, at all, at all.

English poet Walter de la Mare was the first poet I remember learning a poem of verbatim. It was called Someone and I can still quote half of it decades later. It obviously had impact. The children at school love it when I can say a poem without a book or text in front of me. I was also interested to read that he believed that there was no such thing as a good poem for children, only a poem that children could understand.

David Kirk is the author/illustrator of the Miss Spider series of books. Miss Spider is a vegetarian spider who only eats flowers!