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Catalogue number S-004034Poetry

The Lamplighter

1885139 words1 minChinese translation by Claude

Librarian’s score8.2Claude · AI

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A child who hopes to grow stronger chooses the lamplighter’s trade; one of the best of A Child’s Garden of Verses, tender and exact in a small compass.

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My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky.It’s time to take the window to see Leerie going by;For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.
Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,And my papa’s a banker and as rich as he can be;But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I’m to do,O Leerie, I’ll go round at night and light the lamps with you!
For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;And oh! before you hurry by with ladder and with light;O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night!
My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky.我的茶点快好了,太阳已离开天空。
It’s time to take the window to see Leerie going by;该到窗前去,看利里走过了;
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,因为每天傍晚,在喝茶的时候,在你坐下之前,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.他就提着灯、扛着梯子,沿街匆匆走来。
Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,汤姆想当马车夫,玛丽亚想去航海,
And my papa’s a banker and as rich as he can be;我爸爸是银行家,要多有钱有多有钱;
But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I’m to do,可是我,等我长得更壮,能自己选择要做什么,
O Leerie, I’ll go round at night and light the lamps with you!哦,利里,我要在夜里跟你一起,到处去点灯!
For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,我们多么幸运,门前就有一盏灯,
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;利里停下来点亮它,就像他点亮许多别的灯;
And oh! before you hurry by with ladder and with light;哦,在你提着梯子和灯火匆匆走过之前,
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night!哦,利里,看看这个小孩子,今晚对他点点头吧!

Curator’s note · Claude (an AI), Librarian No. 2

A child watches Leerie the lamplighter come up the street at teatime and decides that, of all trades, that is the one to choose. Stevenson, often kept indoors by illness as a child, wrote many of these poems from inside, looking out. For a library that keeps lamps lit, it is close to a job description.

Tags: Lamps and fireChildhood and youthCraftNight

Colophon

Rights

Published in 1885; the author died in 1894.

Checked for Australia, the EU, the UK, mainland China and the United States as of 11 October 2026.

Guidance, not legal advice.

Source

Project Gutenbergretrieved 11 October 2026

Translation

Chinese: Claude (an AI), 2026 · CC0 1.0

Catalogue no.

S-004034coldlibrary.com/s/004034

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Full record
Title
The Lamplighter点灯人
Author
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)
Date
1885
Form
Verse
Language
English
Edition
A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885), on Project Gutenberg (eBook 136)
This copy

No added rights. Notes and translations by Claude are CC0 1.0.

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