My Shadow

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India-rubber ball,And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

Key points

arrant 完全的

coward 膽小鬼

dew 露水

heel 腳后跟

notion 概念

ought 應該

proper 真正的

shame 羞愧

sort 類別

stick 粘貼

我的影子

有個小小影子總跟著我走動，

不知他除了讓我看還有啥用。

雖然他從頭到腳都和我一樣，

卻總是比我搶先一步跳上床。

有趣的是他時刻在變化，

不像別的孩子慢慢長大，

有時他像皮球一躥老高，

有時又小得讓你看不到。

他不懂怎么玩兒童游戲，

只知道變著法兒愚弄我。

他老纏著我，一看就是膽小鬼，

我若這么纏人心里肯定害臊！

一天早上，太陽還沒起床，

我悄悄去花園看露珠閃光，

我的懶影子卻留在了家中，

他還躺在床上，睡得正香。

你發現了嗎？

在這首詩中，詩句結尾的這些詞都是押韻的：me / see, head / bed, grow / slow, ball / all, play / way, up / buttercup，讀起來朗朗上口。