# Sing-Song: When a Mounting Skylark Sings - Source: Sing-Song (sing-song.gutenberg.org), Public domain, Christina Rossetti, pictures by Arthur Hughes, 1872, via Project Gutenberg - Reading level: Ages 4 to 6 - Subjects: Poems, Animals, Ocean - Topics: coal, horses, wind, diamond, sings, coral - Length: 246 words, about 2 min - Original: - Page: - Open in Sprouts: When a mounting skylark sings In the sunlit summer morn, I know that heaven is up on high. And on earth are fields of corn. ## But when a nightingale sings But when a nightingale sings In the moonlit summer even, I know not if earth is merely earth. Only that heaven is heaven. ## Who has seen the wind? Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you: But when the leaves hang trembling The wind is passing thro’. Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I: But when the trees bow down their heads The wind is passing by. ## The horses of the sea The horses of the sea Rear a foaming crest, But the horses of the land Serve us the best. ## The horses of the land The horses of the land Munch corn and clover, While the foaming sea-horses Toss and turn over. ## O sailor, come ashore O sailor, come ashore, What have you brought for me? Red coral, white coral, Coral from the sea. ## I did not dig it from the ground I did not dig it from the ground, Nor pluck it from a tree; Feeble insects made it In the stormy sea. ## A diamond or a coal? A diamond or a coal? A diamond, if you please: Who cares about a clumsy coal Beneath the summer trees? A diamond or a coal? A coal, sir, if you please: One comes to care about the coal What time the waters freeze. ## Picture credits - Arthur Hughes, Public domain () - Arthur Hughes, Public domain () - Arthur Hughes, Public domain () - Arthur Hughes, Public domain () - Arthur Hughes, Public domain ()