Down by a shining water well I found a very little dell, No higher than my head.
The heather and the gorse about In summer bloom were coming out, Some yellow and some red.
I called the little pool a sea; The little hills were big to me; For I am very small.
I made a boat, I made a town, I searched the caverns up and down, And named them one and all.
And all about was mine, I said,
- The little sparrows overhead,
- The little minnows too.
This was the world, and I was king;
For me the bees came by to sing, For me the swallows flew.
I played there were no deeper seas, Nor any wider plains than these, Nor other kings than me.
At last I heard my mother call Out from the house at even-fall, To call me home to tea.
And I must rise and leave my dell, And leave my dimpled water well, And leave my heather blooms.
Alas! and as my home I neared, How very big my nurse appeared, How great and cool the rooms!