Shuffle-Shoon and Amber-Locks
Shuffle-shoon and Amber-LocksSit together, building blocks;Shuffle-Shoon is old and gray,Amber-Locks a little child,But together at their playAge and Youth are reconciled,And with sympathetic gleeBuild their castles fair to see.
“When I grow to be a man”(So the wee one’s prattle ran),“I shall build a castle so—With a gateway broad and grand;Here a pretty vine shall grow,There a soldier guard shall stand;And the tower shall be so high,Folks will wonder, by and by!”
Shuffle-Shoon quoth: “Yes, I know;Thus I builded long ago!Here a gate and there a wall,Here a window, there a door;Here a steeple wondrous tallRiseth ever more and more!But the years have leveled lowWhat I builded long ago!”
So they gossip at their play,Heedless of the fleeting day;One speaks of the Long AgoWhere his dead hopes buried lie;One with chubby cheeks aglowPrattleth of the By and By;Side by side, they build their blocks—Shuffle-Shoon and Amber-Locks.