Imagine That!

By Margaret M. Spalding

Mollie and Sarah and Peter and Beth

Went out in the afternoon.

“We’re taking a trip—we don’t know just where—

And we won’t be back very soon.”

Mollie was six, Sarah was five,

Peter was just over three;

And wee little Beth, not much more than two,

Not much more than two was she.

“Let’s go to a forest,” one of them said.

“There’s one in Miss Tuttle’s backyard.”

“Watch out for the lions and tigers and bears!

If they catch you, they’ll bite very hard.”

Four little folk crept ’cross the lawn

Through a jungle of bushes and shrubs,

Past a forest of plants Miss Tuttle had there,

Past flowers in bright-colored tubs.

“Stop just a minute!” Mollie cried out.

“I just heard an elephant sing.”

Peter and Beth listened and heard

The song of a bird on the wing.

“I see a lion!” Sarah jumped back.

“A lion with big purple eyes.”

Peter and Beth, looking around,

Saw flowers and bright butterflies.

Mollie exclaimed, “Look high above!

There’s a giant white bird in the sky.”

Peter and Beth turned their heads to look up

And saw fluffy clouds drifting by.

From under the bushes something jumped up.

“Look out! It’s a big woolly bear!”

Peter and Beth turned ’round quickly to see

A furry black puppy was there.

Mollie was six, Sarah was five,

Peter was just over three;

And wee little Beth, not much more than two,

Not much more than two was she.

After supper that night, after baths and their prayers,

After saying good night to the sun,

Peter and Beth both told Mommy and Dad

Of all the brave things they had done.

“I saw an elephant fly in the sky,”

Beth told her Mommy with glee.

“He sang a sweet song,” Peter added to that.

“I think that he sang it for me.

And we saw a lion in Miss Tuttle’s yard—

A lion with big purple eyes!”

Then snuggling in bed, Beth smiled as she said,

“And a fluffy white bird in the skies.”

Mommy and Daddy smiled back and declared,

“It sounds like a wonderful day!”

“But the best part of all,” agreed Peter and Beth,

“Was the bear that came out to play.”

Mollie and Sarah and Peter and Beth,

Each sleeping soundly in bed,

Dreamed of the things in the forest that day—

A dream was in each little head.

Mollie was six, Sarah was five,

Peter was just over three;

And wee little Beth, not much more than two,

Not much more than two was she.

Illustrated by Shauna Mooney