Getting sick of summer?
I found just the spot
to cool off really fast
when you’re feeling hot.
The water’s like a mirror,
instead of sand there’s snow;
but how deep is the lake?
You don’t want to know!
Teacher’s note: This lake is one of twenty favourite tourist spots located in Germany’s Black Forest, where hiking and swimming are popular. One lake is 40 metres deep.
In the mountains,
above the snow,
I found a castle
from long ago.
Forbidding walls
rise to the sky;
gloomy forests
meet the eye.
I wonder whom
I’ll meet inside —
which king will be
my ghostly guide?
Teacher’s note: Wartburg (pronounced Vartburg) Castle sits on 410-metrte precipice above the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. Dating from 1067, it is associated with Saint Elisabeth of Hungary, Martin Luther, and a legendary minstrels’ contest.
Why do they call it black,
when I think it looks all white?
Every tree, draped with snow,
and more will fall tonight!
Such a magic kingdom,
of lakes and towering peaks,
of deep, dark woods and valleys,
and babbling falls and creeks.
And in any village,
wood carvers work all day.
Listen to their cuckoo clocks,
hand-made the German way.
Teacher’s note: The Black Forest (in German, Schwarzwald) is so-named because its fir forests are dark and mysterious. It covers 6,000 square kilometres, its highest peaks soaring to 1,400 metres. The Danube and Neckar Rivers have their source here. Traditional skills include woodworking, crafting musical instruments and of course cuckoo clocks!
Australian Children’s Poetry 