The Seven Ages of Elf-hood
Rachel Field

When an Elf is as old as a year and a minute
He can wear a cap with a feather in it.

By the time that he is two times two
He has a buckle for either shoe.

At twenty he is fine as a fiddle,
With a brown belt to go round his middle.

When he's lived for fifty years or so
His coat may have buttons all in a row.

If past threescore and ten he's grown
Two pockets he has for his very own.

At eighty-two or three year old
They bulge and jingle with bits of gold

But when he's a hundred and a day
He gets a little pipe to play.

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