Little English Houses
by Theodora Goss

Little English houses,
red and white, white and red.
Somewhere a good child
is laying her head
on a linen pillow,
and hollyhocks bloom
all across the linen,
all around her room,
climbing up the wallpaper
so that she sleeps
in a secret garden,
a secret English garden,
while out the window,
in the garden below,
hollyhocks are growing,
red and white, white and red,
all around the houses,
the little English houses
sleeping in the sunshine,
dreaming in the sunshine,
as in the room above,
softly, gently, deeply,
dreaming of a garden
with hollyhock and roses,
red and white hollyhocks,
roses striped red and white,
smiling as she dreams
of a secret garden,
the little girl sleeps.

(The image is Flowering Hollyhocks by George Baxter.)