Where Are You Going?

Full Version:

Where are you going, sister Kate?
I’m going to swing on the garden gate,
And watch the fairy gypsies dance
Their tim-tam-tum on the cabbage-plants—
The great big one with the purple nose,
And the tiny tad with the pinky toes.

Where are you going, brother Ben?
I’m going to build a tiger-pen.
I’ll get iron and steel and ’lectric wire
And build it a hundred feet, or higher,
And put ten tigers in it too,
And a big wildcat, and—mebbe—you.

Where are you going, mother mine?
I’m going to sit by the old grapevine,
And watch the gliding swallow bring
Clay for her nest from the meadow spring—
Clay and straw and a bit of thread
To weave it into a baby’s bed.

Where are you going, grandma dear?
I’m going, love, where the skies are clear,
And the light winds lift the poppy flowers
And gather clouds for the summer showers,
Where the old folks and the children play
On the warm hillside through the livelong day.

First published in The Peter Patter Book of Nursery Rhymes (1918).

This rhyme walks through four generations — child, youth, mother, and grandmother — each with a world of their own. It starts in play and imagination, ends in peace and memory. Jackson’s rhythm makes the transitions feel gentle and natural: from fairy games to bold invention, from home and motherhood to quiet eternity.

What makes it special is tone. Where Are You Going? carries a thread of wonder that grows softer with each verse. Sister Kate’s garden fairies, Brother Ben’s grand inventions, Mother’s nesting bird — all lead to Grandma’s serene farewell, lifted by wind and light.

Blanche Fisher Wright’s illustration (if included) would have matched that balance — movement above, stillness below, life circling back to calm. It’s one of the book’s most thoughtful pieces, bridging play and philosophy without ever losing its nursery simplicity.