Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850–1894). A Child’s Garden of Verses and Underwoods. 1913.
5. The Dumb Soldier
W
Walking on the lawn alone,
In the turf a hole I found
And hid a soldier underground.
Grasses hide my hiding place;
Grasses run like a green sea
O’er the lawn up to my knee.
Looking up with leaden eyes,
Scarlet coat and pointed gun,
To the stars and to the sun.
When the scythe is stoned again,
When the lawn is shaven clear,
Then my hole shall reappear.
I shall find my grenadier;
But for all that’s gone and come,
I shall find my soldier dumb.
In the grassy woods of spring;
Done, if he could tell me true,
Just as I should like to do.
And the springing of the flowers;
And the fairy things that pass
In the forests of the grass.
Talking bee and ladybird,
And the butterfly has flown
O’er him as he lay alone.
Not a word of all he knows.
I must lay him on the shelf,
And make up the tale myself.