Scottish Poetry Selection
- Bed in Summer

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh on November 13, 1850. Here is one of his simple poems from "A Child's Garden of Verses" which highlights the long summer days in Scotland - and the long winter nights.


Bed in Summer

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

Return to the Index of Scottish Poetry Selection



Where else would you like to go in Scotland?






Separator line