Escape at Bedtime
The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out Through the blinds and the windows and bars; And high overhead and all moving about, There were thousands of millions of stars. There ne’er were such thousands of leaves on a tree, Nor of people in church or the Park, As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me, And that glittered and winked in the dark.
The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all, And the star of the sailor, and Mars, These shone in the sky, and the pail by the wall Would be half full of water and stars. They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries, And they soon had me packed into bed; But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes, And the stars going round in my head.
Iowa Basics standardized testing was hardly known for creating a magical atmosphere at school, especially with the picturesque backdrop of rows of computers. Yet my seventh grade self found the tests particularly poignant one day when I came across an excerpt used in the literature portion of the exam.It was from Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Escape at Bedtime.” I memorized a few of the lines so that I could search for them later and find the name of the poem. I so vividly remember the exact moment I experienced the enchantment of those lines during testing: “And the pail by the wall/ Would be half full of water and stars.” Apparently, my first encounter with the poem was memorable enough that my friend and classmate can recall this moment as well, all these years later.
