Growing

Today
you may be small.
But one day
you’ll be tall,
like me,
maybe taller.
You won’t
fit into your bed.
Your hat
won’t fit on your head.
Your feet will fill up the floor.
You’ll have to bend down
to come through the door.
You’ll be able to reach
on the highest shelf,
(and I can’t do that now,
myself).
Out in the country
the tallest trees
will scratch your ankles
and tickle your knees.
Up in the clouds,
yes, way up there,
the eagles will nest
in your craggy hair.
But they’d better soon find
a safer place
because soon your head
will be up in space.

So I hope you won’t be too proud
to bend down
and say hello
to your old home-town.
And I hope it won’t drive you
utterly mad
to visit your tiny
Mum and Dad.

Copyright: from Plum (Barn Owl Books 1998), © Tony Mitton 1998, used by permission of David Higham Associates Ltd on behalf of the author

More about this poem

Tony reads his poems in a thoughtful, careful way. Listen to the two poems about growing, and hear how he makes the poem grow with his voice.

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