Written for a child’s fifth birthday, the poem imagines a day of pure, noisy celebration. The speaker urges everyone to sing loudly in the street until a crowd gathers, then carry the fun indoors, crawling under furniture and pretending to be polar bears. There is no quiet or restraint: the children growl, howl, squeak, and race outside for hide-and-seek and old singing games. The speaker’s voice is warm, energetic, and completely caught up in the excitement. The poem creates a mood of happy chaos and affectionate fun, as if the whole world is invited to join the child’s play. It ends with birthday cake, not just as a treat but as a joyful way to stay alive after so much movement. The simple rhymes and tumbling images make the reader feel the rush and delight of being young and loved.
A Joyful Song of Five — Summary
Come, let us all sing very high And all sing very loud And keep on singing in the street Until there’s quite a crowd;
And keep on singing in the house And up and down the stairs; Then underneath the furniture Let’s all play Polar bears;
And crawl about with doormats on, And growl and howl and squeak, Then in the garden let us fly And play at hide and seek;
And “Here we gather Nuts and May,” “I wrote a Letter” too, “Here we go round the Mulberry Bush,” “The Child who lost its shoe”;
And every game we ever played. And then--to stay alive-- Let’s end with lots of Birthday Cake Because to-day you’re five.