Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Thomas Ashe 1836–89

A Vision of Children

I DREAM’D I saw a little brook

Run rippling down the Strand;

With cherry-trees and apple-trees

Abloom on either hand:

The sparrows gather’d from the Squares,

Upon the branches green;

The pigeons flock’d from Palace-Yard,

Afresh their wings to preen;

And children down St. Martin’s Lane,

And out of Westminster,

Came trooping, many a thousand strong,

With a bewilder’d air.

They hugg’d each other round the neck

And titter’d for delight,

To see the yellow daffodils,

And see the daisies white;

They roll’d upon the grassy slopes,

And drank the water clear,

While ’busses the Embankment took,

Asham’d to pass anear;

And sandwich-men stood still aghast,

And costermongers smil’d;

And the policeman on his beat

Pass’d, weeping like a child.