In the Next Yard
O yes, you are very cunning,
I can see that:
Out there in the snow with your red cart
And your wooly grey coat
And those ridiculous
Little grey leggings!
Like a rabbit,
A demure brownie.
O yes, you are cunning;
But do not think you will escape your father and mother
And what your brothers are!
I know the pattern.
It will surely have you—
For all these elfish times in the snow—
As commonplace as the others,
Little grey rabbit.
This poem is in the public domain.
“In the Next Yard” was published in Volume 2, Number 4 of The Seven Arts in August 1917.
Helen Hoyt
Helen Hoyt was born in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1887 and received her AB from Barnard College in 1909. She worked as the associate editor of Poetry magazine and authored several poetry collections, including Poems of Amis (R. J. Hoffmann, 1946); The Name of a Rose (Helen Gentry, 1931); Leaves of Wild Grape (Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1929); and Apples Here in My Basket (Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1924).
Hoyt died in Saint Helena, California in 1972.