Poems for Children and The Children's Bells Eleanor Farjeon

Poems for Children 1951
and
The Children's Bells 
illustrated by Peggy Fortnum 1957

Eleanor Farjeon

Almost any collection of children's poems will include one or more from Eleanor Farjeon.  She was a prolific writer of children's stories and plays and poetry.  I was unaware until recently that the beautiful hymn "Morning has Broken" was penned by her!

Her poems are so wonderful- at once playful, sweet, childish, and intelligent.  

Morning has Broken

Morning has broken

Like the first morning,

Blackbird has spoken

     Like the first bird.

Praise for the singing!

Praise for the morning!

Praise for them, springing

     From the first Word.

Sweet the rain's new fall

Sunlit from heaven,

Like the first dewfall

     In the first hour.

Praise for the sweetness

Of the wet garden,

Sprung in completeness

     From the first shower.

Waking at 5am for my job at the coffee shop can be rough.  But oh the rewards when I walk down and see the sun rise!  I sometimes even sing the hymn "Morning has Broken" on my way.  (Cat Stevens has the most beautiful rendition.). It was only recently that I learned that Eleanor Farjeon wrote the original verse "A Morning Song (For the First Day of Spring)".  We have it in our 1957 copy of The Children's Bells.