[Editor: This poem for children, by Eva Oakley, was published in Willie Wagtail, Two Little Romances and Other Verses (1945).]
“Willie Takes a Tumble”
One day, our Willie Wagtail said,
“My word! I’m feeling fit;
My wings now have their feathers on;
I’m off to find my bit.”
Away he fluttered; but, alas,
He fell upon the ground,
And just then Tom came creeping up;
He did not make a sound;
But that good boy was passing by,
And saw poor Willie’s plight;
He hurried to him, picked him up,
And gave old Tom a fright.
Back in the nest, he put poor Bill,
And then he went off home:
Our Bill then said, “Just for awhile,
I shall not try to roam.”
Source:
Eva Oakley, Willie Wagtail, Two Little Romances and Other Verses, Melbourne: Austral Printing & Publishing Company, [1950], p. 2
Editor’s notes:
awhile = for a time; in modern times it is usually rendered as two words, “a while”
Bill = a diminutive version of “William”; there are several diminutive forms of William: Bill, Billie, Billy, Will, Willie, Wills, Willy, (Scottish) Wullie
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