We put more coal on the big red fire,
   And while we are waiting for dinner to cook,
Our father comes and tells us about
   A story that he has read in a book.

And Charles and Will and Dick and I
   And all of us but Clarence are there.
And some of us sit on Father’s legs,
   But one has to sit on the little red chair.

And when we are sitting very still,
   He sings us a song or tells a piece;
He sings “Dan Tucker Went to Town,”         
   Or he tells us about the golden fleece.

He tells us about the golden wool,
   And some of it is about a boy
Named Jason, and about a ship,
   And some is about a town called Troy.

And while he is telling or singing it through,
   I stand by his arm, for that is my pace.
And I push my fingers into his skin
   To make little dents in his big round face.

From My Poetry Book: An Anthology of Modern Verse for Boys and Girls
(John C. Winston Comapny, 1934).