A young child, stuck in bed with a cold, spends the day listening to the wind outside and feeling very alone. The speaker wishes to be old rather than small, because being little makes everything scarier. The wind becomes a growling, creeping dog, waiting to snatch things and never quiet. That comparison makes the whole room feel less safe, even with a nurse and a woolly shawl. Time stretches painfully: tea feels like a whole day ago, and the child half-imagines everyone has simply forgotten. Sleep won’t come, because the wind keeps making its eerie, hungry sound. The mood is restless and a little self-pitying, but also deeply recognizable—a child turning a long, dull, feverish afternoon into something quietly frightening. The simple rhymes and short lines keep the voice young, while the repeated wishes show how trapped the speaker feels.
A Day in Bed — Summary
I wish I had not got a cold, The wind is big and wild, I wish that I was very old, Not just a little child.
Somehow the day is very long Just keeping here, alone; I do not like the big wind’s song, He’s growling for a bone.
He’s like an awful dog we had Who used to creep around And snatch at things--he was so bad, With just that horrid sound.
I’m sitting up and nurse has made Me wear a woolly shawl; I wish I was not so afraid; It’s horrid to be small.
It really feels quite like a day Since I have had my tea; P’raps everybody’s gone away And just forgotten me.
And oh! I cannot go to sleep Although I am in bed. The wind keeps going creepy-creep And waiting to be fed.