Stanza 1

Here a young child is describing his evening routine. After the day gets over his parents sit around fire often talking and singing. They never get involved in the boy's activities.

Stanza 2

Now, as the little boy feels bored and finds his parents uninteresting, he sneaks and delves into the world of imagination. He crawls throughout the house with a little gun in his hands. He walks along the wall in the dark room and feels as if he is following a path through the forest. He has made his imaginary camp behind the back of the sofa.

Stanza 3

The room is dark as it is dimly lit, no one can see this boy. There is nobody to spy on him when he lies in his imaginary camp behind the sofa back. There he plays with the books that he has read. At times, he acts out the favourite scenes of those books. His playing continues till it is time for him to go to bed.

Stanza 4

Hidden behind the sofa, the boy explores the hills and the forests. The places are discovered by him all alone in the presence of stars. He can also imagine a river. At the edge of this river, roaring lions come to drink water. So, the boy observes all these places while sitting in his "imaginary camp" which he has set behind the sofa.

Stanza 5

Here, the boy talks about a place which is far away, he can see people and a firelit camp. He compares himself to an 'Indian scout' who was observing them all from a distance where he was unseen and unheard.

Stanza 6

In this stanza, the evening is about to end. It is time for him to go to bed. His nurse comes to take him back from his imaginary camp.

The boy feels as if he has to go from one side of the sea to the other to return to his real world. He is not at all willing to return to his real world as he keeps turning and looking back at the place behind the sofa with longing eyes. He wants to delve again into his land of storybooks. But, he thinks that he will return the next day and finally goes off to sleep.