Welcome back to The Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios.

I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Monday, September 16th, 2004.

Today's poem is by A.A. Milne, and it comes from his classic collection of poetry, Now We Are Six, originally published in 1927, full of many still-beloved children's poems, many of which

follow the whimsical escapades of Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh. The poem is called Us

Two, and it captures so many of the things that are wonderful about all of A.A. Meele's Pooh stories, but his poetry in particular, there's this brilliant insight into the psychology of children. This particular poem is a conversation or a series of conversations between a child and his toy or his imaginary

friend. And while that relationship is clear and transparent, at least for an adult reader,

there's nothing cynical or condescending about the way that the speaker of the poem looks at it and reports it.

And what develops over the course of the poem is this lovely picture of innocence and goodness,

companionship and warmth that never veers into the schmaltzy or the saccharin.

And A.A. Milne has such a practiced hand at that. That is his great virtue. He can show us something

that is sincere and childlike without having to play it up or exaggerated. It is

a lily that needs no gilding and he has the self-control to present it as such. It makes his poems

so enduring and endearing and I hope you enjoy us too.

Wherever I am, there's always poo. There's always poo and me. Whatever I do, he wants to do.

Where are you going today? says Pooh.

That's very odd, because I was two.

Let's go together, says Pooh, says he.

Let's go together, says Pooh.

What's twice 11? I said to Pooh.

Twice what? said Pooh to me.

I think it ought to be 22.

Just what I think myself, said Pooh. It wasn't an easy sum to do,

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