Poet · Victorian
Robert Louis Stevenson
Scottish poet · 1850–1894
RequiemMy ShadowThe Land of Counterpane
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde — and, in between, A Child's Garden of Verses (1885), much of it remembering the long sick days of his own Edinburgh childhood, when his nurse kept watch beside his bed and the counterpane became a battlefield.
Chronically ill all his life, he sailed the Pacific in search of air he could breathe and settled in Samoa, where the islanders named him Tusitala — "teller of tales." When he died there at 44, they cut a path up Mount Vaea and carried him to a grave overlooking the sea.
The stone bears his own "Requiem": "Home is the sailor, home from sea, / And the hunter home from the hill."
47 poems by Robert Louis Stevenson
Full text, free to read — all in the public domain.
- Autumn FiresIn the other gardens…12 lines
- Away With Funeral MusicAWAY with funeral music - set…4 lines
- Bed in SummerIn winter I get up at night…12 lines
- Behold, As Goblins Dark Of MienBEHOLD, as goblins dark of mien…24 lines
- Death, To The Dead For EvermoreDEATH, to the dead for evermore…25 lines
- Envoy For "A Child's Garden Of Verses"WHETHER upon the garden seat…44 lines
- FarewellFAREWELL, and when forth…10 lines
- Farewell to the FarmThe coach is at the door at last;…16 lines
- Flower God, God Of The SpringFLOWER god, god of the spring, beautiful, bountiful,…20 lines
- Foreign ChildrenLittle Indian, Sioux, or Crow,…20 lines
- God Gave To Me A Child In PartGOD gave to me a child in part,…16 lines
- Good and Bad ChildrenChildren, you are very little,…20 lines
- Hail! Childish Slave Of Social RulesHAIL! Childish slaves of social rules…56 lines
- Happy ThoughtThe world is so full of a number of things,…2 lines
- Home, My Little Children, Hear Are Songs For YouCOME, my little children, here are songs for you;…8 lines
- I Dreamed Of Forest Alleys fairI.…52 lines
- I WHo All The Winter ThroughI WHO all the winter through…12 lines
- If This Were FaithGod, if this were enough,…38 lines
- In The Green And Gallant SpringIN the green and gallant Spring,…8 lines
- Light As The Linnet On My Way I StartLIGHT as the linnet on my way I start,…5 lines
- Men Are Heaven's PiersMEN are Heaven's piers; they evermore…34 lines
- Music At The Villa MarinaFOR some abiding central source of power,…28 lines
- Over The Land Is AprilOVER the land is April,…19 lines
- Picture-Books in WinterSummer fading, winter comes —…20 lines
- PrayerI ASK good things that I detest,…20 lines
- RomanceI WILL make you brooches and toys for your delight…12 lines
- Since Thou Hast Given Me This Good Hope, O GodSINCE thou hast given me this good hope, O God,…16 lines
- Sonnet INOR judge me light, tho' light at times I seem,…14 lines
- Spring CarolWHEN loud by landside streamlets gush,…28 lines
- Spring SongTHE air was full of sun and birds,…12 lines
- St. Martin's SummerAS swallows turning backward…18 lines
- Summer SunGreat is the sun, and wide he goes…20 lines
- The Angler Rose, He Took His RodTHE angler rose, he took his rod,…4 lines
- The Bour-Tree DenCLINKUM-CLANK in the rain they ride,…96 lines
- The Dumb SoldierWhen the grass was closely mown,…36 lines
- The FlowersAll the names I know from nurse:…16 lines
- The MoonThe moon has a face like the clock in the hall;…12 lines
- The Summer Sun Shone Round MeTHE summer sun shone round me,…12 lines
- The Wind Is Without There And Howls In The TreesTHE wind is without there and howls in the trees,…32 lines
- To Friends At HomeTO friends at home, the lone, the admired, the lost…6 lines
- To My MotherYou too, my mother, read my rhymes…4 lines
- To My Name-Child1…22 lines
- When The Sun Come After RainWHEN the sun comes after rain…16 lines
- Winter-TimeLate lies the wintry sun a-bed,…20 lines
- My ShadowI HAVE a little shadow that goes in and out with me,…16 lines
- RequiemUnder the wide and starry sky,…8 lines
- The Land of NodFrom breakfast on through all the day…16 lines