Between the dark and the daylight,
when the night is beginning to lower,
comes a pause in the day’s occupations
that is known as the children’s hour.
I hear in the chamber above me
the patter of little feet,
the sound of a door that is opened,
and voices soft and sweet.
From my study I see in the lamplight,
descending the broad hall stair,
grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
and Edith with golden hair.
A whisper, and then a silence:
yet I know by their merry eyes
they are plotting and planning together
to take me by surprise.
A sudden rush from the stairway,
a sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
they enter my castle wall!
They climb up into my turret
o’er the arms and back of my chair;
if I try to escape, they surround me;
they seem to be everywhere.
They almost devour me with kisses,
their arms about me entwine,
till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
in his Mouse Tower on the Rine!
Do you think, o blue eyed banditti,
because you have scaled the wall,
such an old mustache as I am
is not a match for you all!
I have you fast in my fortress,
and will not let you depart,
but put you down into the dungeon
in the round tower of my heart.
And there will I keep you forever,
yes, forever and a day,
till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
and moulder in dust away!
Henry W. Longfellow. Estados Unidos(1807-1882)
