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Home  »  Stevenson, Robert Louis  »  “My Shadow”  »  Online text

A Child’s Garden of Verses
“My Shadow”
Robert Louis Stevenson

 

 I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
 And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
 He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
 And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.
 
 The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—
 Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
 For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
 And he sometimes goes so little that there’s none of him at all.
 
 He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play,
 And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
 He stays so close behind me, he’s a coward you can see;
 I’d think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!
 
 One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
 I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
 But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
 Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

 

 

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This collection of children's literature is a part of the Educational Technology Clearinghouse and is funded by various grants. Copyright 2009 by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida.

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