The Two Children

The Two Children written by William Henry Davies

From "Child Lovers", (1916)

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'Ah, little boy! I see
  You have a wooden spade.
Into this sand you dig
  So deep - for what?' I said.
'There's more rich gold,' said he,
  'Down under where I stand,
Than twenty elephants
  Could move across the land.'

'Ah, little girl with wool! -
  What are you making now?'
'Some stockings for a bird,
  To keep his legs from snow.'
And there those children are,
  So happy, small, and proud:
The boy that digs his grave,
  The girl that knits her shroud.

This work is in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less.