Arvin Marvin Lillisbee Fitch

By John Ciardi

Arvin Marvin Lillisbee Fitch
Rode a broomstick like a witch.
Out the window, over the trees,
Above the hills, across two seas,
And up and up on a wild moonbeam
Till he came to the other side of his dream,
Where he bumped his head a terrible thump
On the top of the dark, and fell ker-flump!—
Down, down, down, down like a piece of lead,
Till he landed–thud!–in his very own bed.

He didn’t cry. He didn’t scream.
He simply said, “When next I dream,
It seems to me it might be wise
To keep my dreams a smaller size.”

So saying, he went back to sleep
And dreamed about such things as sheep,
And birthday parties, and buttercups,
And toothpaste tubes, and spotted pups–
Good proper dreams, and none so tall
That he ran any risk of a fall.

Arvin’s dreams were beautiful,
But perhaps a little dull.
In fact, but for the birthday cake
He might as well have stayed awake.
And in his sleep I heard him sigh,
“It was more fun when I dreamed high!”

~~~~~~~

John Ciardi’s book, You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You with illustrations by Edward Gorey, was a staple of my childhood and fostered my love of playing with language. I can still hear my dad’s voice reading the poems.  Thanks to Karen for reminding me that it has dream poems in it!