El clásico de la semana es...

  

    

    A Child's Garden of Verses, el único libro de poemas para niños que escribió Rober Louis Stevenson, inspirado en su propia infancia y dedicado a su niñera, Alison Cunningham. Refleja con cierta ternura las costumbres e intereses de un niño de su época, pero también con mucho humor, como podemos ver en este breve poema: 

Whole Duty of Children 

A child should always say what's true,

And speak when he is spoken to, 

And behave mannerly at table: 

At least as far as he is able. 

   Entre los poemas, quizás uno de los más conocidos sea My Shadow, que reproduzco a continuación en inglés y que se puede leer en español aquí: 

My Shadow

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.

   En español, existen dos ediciones en circulación: Jardín de versos para niños, en Hiperión, y Jardín de versos de un niño, en Almadraba.