maggie and milly and molly and may

      maggie and milly and molly and may
      went down to the beach (to play one day)

      and maggie discovered a shell that sang
      so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles,and

      milly befriended a stranded star
      whose rays five languid fingers were;

      and molly was chased by a horrible thing
      which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

      may came home with a smooth round stone
      as small as a world and as large as alone.

      For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
      it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

this poem always makes me think of milly-molly-mandy. i loved those books when i was a kid, partly because it excited me that one of her names was my name! haha. if you've never read them, they're very cute & nostalgic, even if you're not five to eight (ie the target age :) though i do say this as an enid blyton-lover, so if you're not into her i doubt you'd like this either.

i love old kid's literature: enid blyton, bobbsey twins, original nancy drew, trixie beldon, louise may alcott, & so on. i have a largish collection & am always looking for more. they just don't write kid's books the way they used to. but i will admit to hating anne of green gables.. she always just annoyed me no end, but i could never quite put my finger on why exactly.