Foreign lands | Up into the cherry tree

Up into the cherry tree

Language: English

Up into the cherry tree
Who should climb but little me?
I held the trunk with both my hands
And looked abroad in foreign lands.

I saw the next door garden lie,
Adorned with flowers, before my eye,
And many pleasant places more
That I had never seen before.

I saw the dimpling river pass
And be the sky's blue looking-glass;
The dusty roads go up and down
With people tramping in to town.

If I could find a higher tree
Farther and farther I should see,
To where the grown-up river slips
Into the sea among the ships,

To where the roads on either hand
Lead onward into fairy land,
Where all the children dine at five,
And all the playthings come alive.

About the headline (FAQ)

First published in Magazine of Art, September 1884

Text Authorship:

by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894), "Foreign lands", appears in A Child's Garden of Verses, first published 1885 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Edward Falk , "Foreign lands", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ], from A Child's Garden of Verses [sung text not yet checked]
by Liza Lehmann (1862 - 1918), "Up into the cherry tree", 1902 [ voice or vocal quartet and piano ], from More daisies: new songs of childhood, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by Marvin Radnor , "Foreign lands", published 1923 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Mary Elizabeth Turner Salter (1856 - 1938), "Foreign lands", published 1933 [ unaccompanied voice ], in the collection New Universal School Music Series: Rhythm Songs [sung text not yet checked]
by Thomas Griffen (Griffin?) Shepard (1848 - 1905), "Foreign lands", published 1901 [ voice and piano ], from A cycle of songs [sung text not yet checked]
by Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir (1852 - 1924), "Foreign lands", op. 30 no. 3, published 1892 [ voice and piano ], from A Child's Garland of Songs, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-11-28
Line count: 20
Word count: 124