October 3rd 2024 is NATIONAL POETRY DAY. The theme this year is: COUNTING. Here are a few poems I have written finding different ways to use the theme of COUNTING, followed by some old traditional nursery rhymes used to help children learn to count from ONE to TEN and beyond. I hope you enjoy them, and have a wonderful time on this special day. I hope you are inspired to write lots of brilliant poems yourselves.

Posted on 18 September 2024

COUNT DOWN

Count your blessings.

Count to ten.

You can count on me

Again, and again.

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Blood count. Head count.

Counting down the days.

‘How do I love thee?

Let me count the ways.’ *

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Count me out.

Count me in.

Count on your fingers.

Count to ten.

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Counting calories.

Counting sheep,

Over and over

to fall asleep.

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Counting the pennies.

Counting time.

This is the end

Of my count down rhyme!

(*from Sonnets From the Portugese Number 43 – by Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

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WHAT COUNTS

A bee on a flower

For a hive full of honey

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A garden of plenty

For a harvest of food

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A sky full of light

For a wildness of birds

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A forest of trees

For an air pure and clean

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A wisdom of balance

For the fairness of all

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A spirit of sharing

For a world free of greed

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A helping of justice

For the righting of wrong

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A practice of peace

For a world free of war

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A kindness of words

For a world full of love

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A fullness of hearts

For the planet we saved.

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TWO GOOD REASONS WHY I’M COUNTING THE DAYS

I’m counting down days

to our next holiday,

I’m down to tw0 hundred and ten.

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We’ve done Halloween,

and Christmas has been.

I can’t wait for vacation again.

___

The day that we left

I was feeling bereft

My countdown began from then on.

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Mum says you’re obsessed

just give it a rest

but I still tick the days that are gone.

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She warns me your game

is a waste and a shame

you’re wishing your life away.

___

I’ve tried – it’s no good

I’d give up if I could

but my calendar countdown must stay.

___

With sixty to go

the world turns too slow

and the count-down is starting to drag.

___

It’s well into new year

now just thirty is here.

I’m going to start packing my bag!

___

Count-down to fifteen

fourteen, thirteen.

Today I woke up to just seven!

___

Six, five, four, three

Two, one, yippee!

It’s my holiday/birthday – I’m eleven!

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PEACE

It’s the welcome sound of silence

when a storm has rolled away.

It’s finding a moment to relax

at the end of a chaotic day.

The chance to stop and catch a breath

and calm our racing thoughts.

For patience and understanding

when we seem overwhelmed and distraught.

Peace counts so much in this crazy world

of constant noise and chatter.

We all need a place to gather our thoughts

and remember the things that matter.

VAL HARRIS (2024)

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THE FOLLOWING POEMS ARE TRADITIONAL COUNTING RHYMES DOWN THROUGH THE AGES

ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE

Three, four, knock at the door

Five, six, pick up sticks

Seven, eight, lay them straight

Nine, ten, a big fat hen

Eleven, twelve, dig and delve

Thirteen, fourteen, maids a-courting

Fifteen, sixteen, maids in the kitchen

Seventeen, eighteen, maids in waiting

Nineteen, twenty, my plate’s empty.

(This nursery rhyme was often used to teach young children how to count from one to ten. It was first published in ‘Songs for the Nursery’, published in London in 1805, however it dates at least as far back as the late 18th century )

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ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE

Once I caught a fish alive.

Six, seven, eight, nine, ten

Then I let it go again.

Why did you let it go?

Because it bit my finger so.

Which finger did it bite?

This little finger on my right.

(First recorded around 1765 in Mother Goose’s Melody – a collection of nursery rhymes throughout history – this song did not originally say anything about fish. Instead. it talked about catching a hare alive,

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FIVE LITTLE MONKEYS SWINGING FROM A TREE

teasing Mr Crocodile
‘You can’t catch me!’
Along came Mr Crocodile
as quietly as can be
and snap! went the crocodile
Then there were…

FOUR little monkeys swinging from a tree
teasing Mr Crocodile
‘You can’t catch me!’
Along came Mr Crocodile
as quietly as can be
and snap! went the crocodile
Then there were…

THREE little monkeys swinging from a tree
teasing Mr Crocodile
‘You can’t catch me!’
Along came Mr Crocodile
as quietly as can be
and snap! went the crocodile
Then there were…

TWO little monkeys swinging from a tree
teasing Mr Crocodile
‘You can’t catch me!’
Along came Mr Crocodile
as quietly as can be
and snap! went the crocodile
Then there was…

ONE little monkey swinging from a tree
teasing Mr Crocodile
‘You can’t catch me!’
Along came Mr Crocodile
as quietly as can be
and snap! went the crocodile
Then there were…
NO little monkeys swinging from a tree…oh no!

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THERE WERE TEN IN THE BED

And this was a counting song we played where we all lay on the floor and as each number decreased, one person rolled away.

There were ten in the bed and the little one said

Roll over, roll over