"Life is the garment we continually alter, but which never seems to fit." – David McCord
David McCord (December 15, 1897-April 13, 1997) was a talented essayist; poet;
anthologist; watercolorist; trout fisherman; and the executive director of the
Harvard Fund Council, a fund-raising arm of the university. He was also an editor of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin; and recipient of at least 14 honorary degrees.
During his life he wrote or edited more than 40 books of poetry and prose
including One at a Time, On Occasion, What Cheer and Every Time I Climb a Tree.
He is best remembered for his poems for children of which he once wrote (in The
New York Times, 1964): "Whatever may be said about this small but graceful art,
three things should be remembered: good poems for children are never trivial;
they are never written without the characteristic chills and fever of a
dedicated man at work; they must never bear the stigma of I am adult, you are a
child."
THIS IS MY ROCK
(from Every Time I Climb a Tree)
This is my rock,
And here I run
To steal the secret of the sun;
This is my rock,
And here come I
Before the night has swept the sky;
"This is my rock,
This is the place
I meet the evening face to face.
EVERY TIME I CLIMB A TREE
Every time I climb a tree
Every time I climb a tree
Every time I climb a tree
I scrape a leg
Or skin a knee
And every time I climb a tree
I find some ants
Or dodge a bee
And get the ants
All over me
And every time I climb a tree
Where have you been?
They say to me
But don't they know that I am free
Every time I climb a tree?
I like it best
To spot a nest
That has an egg
Or maybe three
And then I skin
The other knee
But every time I climb a tree
I see a lot of things to see
Swallows, rooftops and TV
And all the fields and farms there be
Every time I climb a tree
Thought climbing may be good for ants
It isn't awfully good for pants
But still it's pretty good for me
Every time I climb a tree
This quote & biography originally ran in an issue of BookBrowse's membership magazine. Full Membership Features & Benefits.
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