My Bed is a Boat

~by Robert Louis Stevenson

My bed is like a little boat;

Nurse helps me in when I embark;

She girds me in my sailor's coat

And starts me in the dark.

At night, I go on board and say

Good-night to all my friends on shore;

I shut my eyes and sail away

And see and hear no more.

And sometimes things to bed I take,

As prudent sailors have to do:

Perhaps a slice of wedding cake,

Perhaps a toy or two.

All night across the dark we steer:

But when the day returns at last,,

Safe in my room, beside the pier,

I find my vessel fast.