Little Stairs

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23115, 13 August 1938, Page 8 (Supplement)

Little Stairs

When I am sick and lonesome And Wake up in the night I think of lots of funny things And watch the shaded light. I listen to the striking clock. And if I'm half asleep It makes me think of little stairs Up which I have to creep. Twelve o'clock has stairs of lead. Oh I so hard to climb. Up and up and up I go While it rings the time. One has a little goblin step That leads I know not where. It gives a tiny mocking ting When I tread on the stair. At two how thick the darkness it I I climb the steps, one, two; The bell rings at an elfin door That never lets me through. The daylight's far away at three, Dark, dark, and darker still, But I go up the little stairs, As steep as any kill. Four's a sloping flight of steps, It leads away from night, And high upon the topmost shines A lantern's little light. But five's a friendly stairway, It's silver all the Way, With a silver door that opens On the nice new light of day. —Alice A. Kenny.