Hello Poetry Lovers
Yes, I stumbled upon Walter de la Mare’s collection Secret Laughter the other night. 
Published in 1969, it inevitably brought back memories of childhood, and reading his poems at school. As we know, any education is wasted on the young and I enjoyed reading them a lot more now.
I’ve chosen and illustrated two pieces – the first one’s a bit unnerving (but couldn’t resist!) and the second one, as you will see, is very close to our hearts.
Some One
Some one came knocking
At my wee small door;
Some one came knocking,
I’m sure – sure – sure;
I listened, I opened,
I looked to left and right,
But nought there was a-stirring
In the still dark night;
Only the busy beetle
Tap-tapping in the wall,
Only from the forest
The screech-owl’s call,
Only the cricket whistling
While the dewdrops fall,
So I know not who came knocking,
At all, at all, at all.
Puss
Puss loves man’s winter fire
Now that the sun so soon
Leaves the hours cold it warmed
In burning June.
She purrs full length before
The heaped-up hissing blaze,
Drowsy in slumber down
Her head she lays.
While he with whom she dwells
Sits snug in his inglenook,
Stretches his legs to the flames
And reads his book.
Walter de la Mare 1969
As you saw, PL’s, I altered the human to a cat in the illustration of the last piece. Much more fun. 
I hope you enjoyed these two pieces. I loved the loneliness of the first piece and the tenderness of the second. I hope you found that so too. 
Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. I hope I’ve evoked some childhood poetry for you. I will feature Mr de la Mare again very soon. 
Stay tuned for more poetry action…..
Heather Moulson 