Foreign Lands — Nursery Rhyme Lyrics

Up into the cherry tree
Who should climb but little me?
I held the trunk with both my hands
And looked abroad in foreign lands.
I saw the next door garden lie,
Adorned with flowers, before my eye,
And many pleasant places more
That I had never seen before.
I saw the dimpling river pass
And be the sky's blue looking-glass;
The dusty roads go up and down
With people tramping in to town.
If I could find a higher tree
Farther and farther I should see,
To where the grown-up river slips
Into the sea among the ships,
To where the road on either hand
Lead onward into fairy land,
Where all the children dine at five,
And all the playthings come alive.

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Learning from "Foreign Lands"

Nursery rhymes are some of the best teachers of rhythm and rhyme. "Foreign Lands" uses 20 lines to create a memorable verse — proof that effective poetry doesn't need to be long. Pay attention to the meter: the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables is what makes the rhyme stick in your head.

Songwriters and poets can borrow these patterns. Try writing your own lyrics using the same rhyme scheme and line length as this nursery rhyme. You can also use words from the poem above as starting points — click any word to find rhymes or look up its definition, then build from there.

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Frequently asked questions

What are the words to Foreign Lands?
The lyrics to Foreign Lands are: Up into the cherry tree / Who should climb but little me? / I held the trunk with both my hands / And looked abroad in foreign lands. / I saw the next door garden lie, / Adorned with flowers, before my eye, ... Read the full 20-line nursery rhyme at Rhyme Buster.
How many lines does Foreign Lands have?
"Foreign Lands" has 20 lines of verse.

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