Have you ever heard the wind go "Yooooo"?
" Tis a pitiful sound to hear!
It seems to chill you through and through With a strange and speechless fear.
" Tis the voice of the night that broods outsideWhen folk should be asleep,
And many and many"s the time I"ve cried To the darkness brooding far and wide Over the land and the deep:
"Whom do you want, O lonely night, That you wail the long hours through?"And the night would say in its ghostly way: "Yoooooooo !
Yoooooooo ! Yoooooooo !"
My mother told me long ago (When I was a little lad)That, when the night went wailing so, Somebody had been bad;And then, when I was snug in bed, Whither I had been sent,With the blankets pulled up round my head,
I"d think of what my mother said,
And wonder what boy she meant! And, "Who"s been bad to-day?" I"d ask Of the wind that hoarsely blew,And the voice would say in its meaningful way: "Yoooooooo !
Yoooooooo ! Yoooooooo !"
That this was true I must allow-
You"ll not believe it, though!
Yes, though I"m quite a model now,
I was not always so.
And if you doubt what things I say Suppose you make the test;Suppose, when you"ve been bad some day
And up to bed are sent away From mother and the rest-Suppose you ask, "Who has been bad?"
And then you"ll hear what"s true:
For the wind will moan in its ruefullest tone: "Yoooooooo!
Yoooooooo!
Yoooooooo!"
Eugene Field
Author.-Eugene Field (1850-1895), an American writer, is one of the best-loved writers of poetry for children. Born at Saint Louis, he had a college education and then visited Europe. On his return he became a noted journalist. In 1922 a statue of Eugene Field was erected in Lincoln Park, Chicago; it was paid for mainly by the contributions of pennies from school children in the United States.
General Notes.-When saying the poem, mind you imitate the eeriewail of the wind blowing round the corners of a house. Don"t say it too loudly. Divide the class into three parts, and let each part speak a verse; the whole class can join in the wind"s reply.
Do you know any other poems by Eugene Field?