![Light Novel -?=$public_r['add_site_name']?>](/static/content/img/logo.png){kind=logo}
The Book of Humorous Verse Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the The Book of Humorous Verse novel. A total of 196 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : The Book of Humorous Verse.by Various.INTRODUCTION A hope of immortality and a sense of
The Book of Humorous Verse.by Various.INTRODUCTION A hope of immortality and a sense of humor distinguish man from the beasts of the field.A single exception may be made, perhaps, of the Laughing Hyena, and, on the other hand, not every one of the human r
- 1 The Book of Humorous Verse.by Various.INTRODUCTION A hope of immortality and a sense of humor distinguish man from the beasts of the field.A single exception may be made, perhaps, of the Laughing Hyena, and, on the other hand, not every one of the human r
- 2 "But since to speak I'm hurried,"Added this page, quite flurried, "Malbrouck is dead and buried!"(And here he shed a tear.) "He's dead! he's dead as a herring!For I beheld his 'berring,'And four officers transferring His corpse away from the fie
- 3 WHEN MOONLIKE ORE THE HAZURE SEAS When moonlike ore the hazure seas In soft effulgence swells, When silver jews and balmy breaze Bend down the Lily's bells; When calm and deap, the rosy sleap Has lapt your soal in dreems, R Hangeline! R lady mine!Dost th
- 4 THE HEIGHT OF THE RIDICULOUS I wrote some lines once on a time In wondrous merry mood, And thought, as usual, men would say They were exceeding good.They were so queer, so very queer, I laughed as I would die; Albeit, in the general way, A sober man am I.
- 5 You drop a pretty _jeu-de-mot_ Into a neighbor's ears, Who likes to give you credit for The clever thing he hears, And so he hawks your jest about, The old authentic one, Just breaking off the point of it, And leaving out the pun!By sudden change in poli
- 6 OLD STUFF If I go to see the play, Of the story I am certain; Promptly it gets under way With the lifting of the curtain.Builded all that's said and done On the ancient recipe-- 'Tis the same old Two and One: _A and B in love with C_.If I read the lates
- 7 They showed him a room where a queen had slept; "'Twan't up to the tavern daddy kept."They showed him Lucerne; but he had drunk From the beautiful Molechunkamunk.They took him at last to ancient Rome, And inveigled him into a catacomb: Here they plied
- 8 IF WE DIDN'T HAVE TO EAT Life would be an easy matter If we didn't have to eat.If we never had to utter, "Won't you pa.s.s the bread and b.u.t.ter, Likewise push along that platter Full of meat?"Yes, if food were obsolete Life would be a jolly treat,
- 9 "EXACTLY SO"A |speech|, both pithy and concise, Marks a mind acute and wise; What speech, my friend, say, do you know, Can stand before "Exactly so?"I have a dear and witty friend Who turns this phrase to every end; None can deny that "Yes" or "No
- 10 A APPEAL FOR ARE TO THE s.e.xTANT OF THE OLD BRICK MEETINOUSE BY A GASPER The s.e.xtant of the meetinouse, which sweeps And dusts, or is supposed too! and makes fiers, And lites the gas and sometimes leaves a screw loose, in which case it smells orful--wo
- 11 I s.h.i.+pped aboard the _Lizzie_--or she might ha' bin the _Jane;_ Them wimmin names are mixey, so I don't remember plain; But anyhow, she were a craft that carried schooner rig, (Although Sam Swab, the bo'sun, allus swore she were a brig); We sailed
- 12 Oh, now he might hope for a peaceful life And even be happy yet, Though owning no end of neuralgic wife, And up to his collar in debt.He had borne the old lady through thick and thin, And she lectured him out of breath; And now as he looked at the s.h.i.+
- 13 WRITTEN AFTER SWIMMING FROM SESTOS TO ABYDOS If, in the month of dark December, Leander, who was nightly wont (What maid will not the tale remember?) To cross thy stream broad h.e.l.lespont.If, when the wint'ry tempest roar'd, He sped to Hero nothing lo
- 14 OF ONE ELEVEN YEARS IN PRISON I Whene'er with haggard eyes I view This dungeon that I'm rotting in, I think of those companions true Who studied with me at the U niversity of Gottingen, niversity of Gottingen.[Weeps, and pulls out a blue kerchief, with
- 15 MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE DEDICATED TO DARWIN AND HUXLEY They told him gently he was made Of nicely tempered mud, That man no lengthened part had played Anterior to the Flood.'Twas all in vain; he heeded not, Referring plant and worm, Fish, reptile, ape, an
- 16 And, lastly, o'er the flavored compound toss A magic soup-spoon of anchovy sauce.Oh, green and glorious! Oh, herbaceous treat!'Twould tempt the dying anchorite to eat; Back to the world he'd turn his fleeting soul, And plunge his fingers in the salad b
- 17 As my clock ticked, My cat purred, And my kettle sang.At last the candles sputtered out, But the embers still were bright, When I turned my tumbler upside down, An' bade m'self g' night!As th' ket'l t-hic-ked, The clock purred, And the cat (hic) sang
- 18 "You're right, my boy; hould up your head, And look like a jintleman, Sir; Sir Isaac Newton--who was he?Now tell me if you can, Sir.""Sir Isaac Newton was the boy That climbed the apple-tree, Sir; He then fell down and broke his crown, And lost his gr
- 19 In form and feature, face and limb, I grew so like my brother, That folks got taking me for him, And each for one another.It puzzled all our kith and kin, It reach'd an awful pitch; For one of us was born a twin, Yet not a soul knew which.One day (to mak
- 20 Says he, "I'd better call agin"; Says she, "Think likely, Mister"; Thet last word p.r.i.c.ked him like a pin, An' ... Wal, he up an' kist her.When Ma bimeby upon 'em slips, Huldy sot pale ez ashes, All kin' o' smily roun' the lips An' teary ro
- 21 There she sat--so near me, yet remoter Than a star--a blue-eyed, bashful imp: On her lap she held a happy bloater, 'Twixt her lips a yet more happy shrimp.And I loved her, and our troth we plighted On the morrow by the s.h.i.+ngly sh.o.r.e: In a fortnigh
- 22 The drugs I've drunk you'd weep to hear!They've quite enriched the fair concocter, And I'm a ruined man, I fear, Unless--I wed the Doctor!_Samuel Minturn Peck._ A SKETCH FROM THE LIFE Its eyes are gray; Its hair is either brown Or black; And, strange
- 23 They're always abusing the women, As a terrible plague to men; They say we're the root of all evil, And repeat it again and again-- Of war, and quarrels, and bloodshed, All mischief, be what it may.And pray, then, why do you marry us, If we're all the
- 24 Why don't the men propose, mamma?Why don't the men propose?Each seems just coming to the point, And then away he goes; It is no fault of yours, mamma, _That_ everybody knows; You _fete_ the finest men in town, Yet, oh! they won't propose.I'm sure I'v
- 25 |Cloud|: There, there! 'Twas only an excuse To put her lovers off, a wifely ruse, Bidding them bide till it was finished, she Each night the web unravelled secretly.|Celeste|: He came home safe?|Cloud|: If I remember right, It was the lovers needed shrou
- 26 Then I met another guy-- Hungry! well, I thought I'd die!But I couldn't make him buy.Ain't it awful, Mabel?Lots of men has called me dear, Said without me life was drear, But men is all so unsincere!Ain't it awful, Mabel?I tell you, life is mighty har
- 27 Young Rory O'More, courted Kathleen Bawn, He was bold as a hawk,--she as soft as the dawn; He wish'd in his heart pretty Kathleen to please, And he thought the best way to do that was to tease."Now, Rory, be aisy," sweet Kathleen would cry, (Reproof o
- 28 I would not dance with smoke-consuming Puffer, If I were you!|nellie| If I were you, I would not, Sir, be bitter, Even to write the "Cynical Review";-- |frank| No, I should doubtless find flirtation fitter, If I were you!|nellie| Really! You would? Why,
- 29 Cinderella's _lefts and rights_, To Geraldine's were frights; And I trow, The damsel, deftly shod, Has dutifully trod Until now.Come, Gerry, since it suits Such a pretty Puss (in Boots) These to don; Set this dainty hand awhile On my shoulder, dear, and
- 30 I married her, guileless lamb I was; I'd have died for her sweet sake.How could I have known that my Angeline Had been a Human Snake?Ah, we had been wed but a week or two When I found her quite a wreck: Her limbs were tied in a double bow-knot At the bac
- 31 They laughed a little, I am told; But I had done my best; And not a wave of trouble rolled Across my peaceful breast.And Sister Brown--I could but look-- She sits right front of me; She never was no singin'-book, An' never went to be; But then she al'a
- 32 "Oh, 'tis a fate too hard to bear!Then answer this my humble prayer, And oh, a husband give to me!"Just then the owl from out the tree, In deep ba.s.s tones cried, "Who--who--who!""Who, Lord? And dost Thou ask me who?Why, any one, good Lord, will do
- 33 I'm sure wi' you I've been as free As ony modest la.s.s should be; But yet it doesna do to see Sic freedom used before folk.Behave yoursel' before folk, Behave yoursel' before folk; I'll ne'er submit again to it-- So mind you that--before folk.Ye t
- 34 |The Envoy| I don't know any greatest treat As sit him in a gay parterre, With Madame who is too more sweet Than every roses b.u.t.toning there._E. H. Palmer._ HOW TO ASK AND HAVE "Oh, 'tis time I should talk to your mother, Sweet Mary," says I; "Oh,
- 35 AD AMANTEM SUAM Careless rhymer, it is true, That my favourite colour's blue: But am I To be made a victim, sir, If to puddings I prefer Cambridge [pi]?If with giddier girls I play Croquet through the summer day On the turf, Then at night ('tis no great
- 36 "Are women wise?" Not wise, but they be witty; "Are women witty?" Yea, the more the pity; They are so witty, and in wit so wily, Though ye be ne'er so wise, they will beguile ye."Are women fools?" Not fools, but fondlings many; "Can women fond be
- 37 Far, oh, far is the Mango island, Far, oh, far is the tropical sea-- Palms a-slant and the hills a-smile, and A cannibal maiden a-waiting for me.I've been deceived by a damsel Spanish, And Indian maidens both red and brown, A black-eyed Turk and a blue-e
- 38 _Girl_. Indeed._Mother_. And was there nothing you would save?_Girl_. Everything I could give I gave._Mother_. To the last t.i.ttle?_Girl_. Even to that._Mother_. Freely?_Girl_. My heart went pit-a-pat At giving up ... ah me! ah me!I cry so I can hardly s
- 39 _No gold can buy you entrance there_; _But beggared Love may go all bare_-- _No wisdom won with weariness_; _But Love goes in with Folly's dress_-- _No fame that wit could ever win_; _But only Love may lead Love in_ _To Arcady, to Arcady_.Ah, woe is me,
- 40 _Unknown._ CATEGORICAL COURTs.h.i.+P I sat one night beside a blue-eyed girl-- The fire was out, and so, too, was her mother; A feeble flame around the lamp did curl, Making faint shadows, blending in each other: 'Twas nearly twelve o'clock, too, in Nov
- 41 He doth bear a golden bow, And a quiver, hanging low, Full of arrows, that outbrave Dian's shafts, where, if he have Any head more sharp than other, With that first he strikes his mother.Trust him not: his words, though sweet, Seldom with his heart do me
- 42 I hae a but, and I hae a ben-- La.s.s, gin ye lo'e me, tell me now; A penny to keep, and a penny to spen', And I canna come ilka day to woo: I hae a hen wi' a happitie leg-- La.s.s, gin ye lo'e me, tell me now; That ilka day lays me an egg, And I cann
- 43 Weeks gone, still they're sitting, Milly, Billy; O, the winter winds are wondrous chilly!"Winter weather, Close together; Wouldn't tarry, Better marry.Milly, Billy, Billy, Milly, Two--one, one--two, Don't wait, 'twon't do, Knockety-nick, nickety-kno
- 44 FINNIGIN TO FLANNIGAN Superintendent wuz Flannigan; Boss av the siction wuz Finnigin; Whiniver the kyars got offen the thrack, An' muddled up things t' th' divil an' back, Finnigin writ it to Flannigan, Afther the wrick wuz all on ag'in; That is, thi
- 45 Miniver loved the days of old When swords were bright and steeds were prancing; The vision of a warrior bold Would set him dancing.Miniver sighed for what was not, And dreamed and rested from his labors; He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot And Priam's neigh
- 46 ''Tis a shame,' sez he, 'f'r to blame,' sez he, 'A lady so fair an' thrue, An' so divinely tall'-- 'Tis po'ms he talked, ye Jew!An' ye've cooked yer goose, an' now ye're loose F'r to folly the goats! Whurroo!"IV Sez Alderman Grady To Off
- 47 "MAN WANTS BUT LITTLE HERE BELOW"Little I ask; my wants are few; I only wish a hut of stone (A very plain brone stone will do) That I may call my own; And close at hand is such a one, In yonder street that fronts the sun.Plain food is quite enough for m
- 48 An' so he'd set an' flosserfize About the earth, an' sea, an' skies, An' scratch his head, an' ask the cause Of w'at there wuz before time wuz, An' w'at the universe 'd do Bimeby w'en time hed all got through; An' jest how fur we'd have to c
- 49 My typist weeps for hours and hours: I took her for her weeping powers-- They so delight my business hours.A woman lives by intuition.Though my accountant shuns addition She has the rarest intuition.(And I myself can do addition.) Timidity in girls is nic
- 50 Sharp-snouted pikes, Who keep fighting like tikes, Now swam up harmonious To hear Saint Antonius.No sermon beside Had the pikes so edified.And that very odd fish, Who loves fast-days, the cod-fish,-- The stock-fish, I mean-- At the sermon was seen.No serm
- 51 Roll on, thou ball, roll on!Through pathless realms of s.p.a.ce Roll on!What though I'm in a sorry case?What though I cannot meet my bills?What though I suffer toothache's ills?What though I swallow countless pills?Never _you_ mind!Roll on!Roll on, thou
- 52 "He was a saddler, sir," Modestus said, "And in his time was reckoned good.""A saddler, eh? and taught you Greek, Instead of teaching you to sew!Pray, why did not your father make A saddler, sir, of you?"Each parasite, then, as in duty bound, The jo
- 53 In town, we've no use for the skies overhead, For when the sun rises then we go to bed; And as to that old-fas.h.i.+oned virgin the moon, She s.h.i.+nes out of season, like satin in June.In the country, these planets delightfully glare, Just to show us t
- 54 But, if at the Church they would give us some ale, And a pleasant fire our souls to regale, We'd sing and we'd pray all the livelong day, Nor ever once wish from the Church to stray.Then the Parson might preach, and drink, and sing, And we'd be as happ
- 55 It does not quite get through dis n.i.g.g.ar's har, How came dat fence so nice and handy dar?"Like one who in the mud is tightly stuck, Or one nonplussed, astonished, thunderstruck, The preacher looked severely on the pews, And rubbed his hair to know w
- 56 Never more will I suppose, You can taste my verse or prose.IX You no more at me shall fret, While I teach and you forget.X You shall never hear me thunder, When you blunder on, and blunder.XI Show your poverty of spirit, And in dress place all your merit;
- 57 There was (not certain when) a certain preacher That never learned, and yet became a teacher, Who, having read in Latin thus a text Of _erat quidam h.o.m.o_, much perplexed, He seemed the same with study great to scan, In English thus, _There was a certai
- 58 And straightway in his palace-hall, where commonly is set Some coat-of-arms, some portraiture ancestral, lo, we met His mean estate's reminder in his fisher-father's net!Which step conciliates all and some, stops cavil in a trice: "The humble holy hear
- 59 Myself--und Gott.Vile some men sing der power divine, Mine soldiers sing, "Der Wacht am Rhine,"Und drink der health in Rhenish wine Of Me--und Gott.Dere's France, she swaggers all aroundt; She's ausgespield, of no account, To much we think she don't
- 60 A fellow in a market town, Most musical, cried razors up and down, And offered twelve for eighteen-pence; Which certainly seemed wondrous cheap, And for the money quite a heap, As every man would buy, with cash and sense.A country b.u.mpkin the great offe
- 61 Lying varlet, thought he, thus to take in old Nick!But it's some satisfaction, my lad, To know thou art paid beforehand for the trick, For the sixpence I gave thee is bad.And then it came into his head By oracular inspiration, That what he had seen and w
- 62 I'm filled with surprise Taxidermists should pa.s.s Off on you such poor gla.s.s; So unnatural they seem They'd make Audubon scream, And John Burroughs laugh To encounter such chaff.Do take that bird down; Have him stuffed again, Brown!"And the barber
- 63 But down in the depths of the vault below There's Malvoisie for a world of woe!"So they quaff their wine, and all declare That fish, after all, is but gruesome fare."Oh, to-morrow will be Friday, so we'll warm our souls to-day!Oh, to-morrow will be Fr
- 64 While plutocrats their millions new Expend upon each costly whim, A great deal less than theirs will do For him: The simple incomes of the poor His meek poetic soul content: Say, 30,000 at four Per cent.!His taste in residence is plain: No palaces his hea
- 65 You Wi'yum, c.u.m 'ere, suh, dis minute. Wut dat you got under dat box?I don't want no foolin'--you hear me? Wut you say? Ain't nu'h'n but _rocks_?'Peahs ter me you's owdashus perticler. S'posin' dey's uv a new kine.I'll des take a look at de
- 66 _Charles Kingsley._ DOUBLE BALLADE OF PRIMITIVE MAN He lived in a cave by the seas, He lived upon oysters and foes, But his list of forbidden degrees An extensive morality shows; Geological evidence goes To prove he had never a pan, But he shaved with a s
- 67 "Keep them sanwidjus dry,"Says I.When the rine came down in a reggiler sheet.But what can yo do with one umbrella, And a damp gel strung on the arm of a fella?"Well, rined-on 'am ain't pleasant to eat, If yer don't believe it, just go an try,"Says
- 68 We studied hard in our styles, Chipped each at a crust like Hindoos, For air, looked out on the tiles, For fun watched each other's windows.You lounged, like a boy of the South, Cap and blouse--nay, a bit of beard too; Or you got it rubbing your mouth Wi
- 69 If thou wert mine, quite changed would be these features.Then, I suspect, Thou wouldst the humblest prove of loving creatures, And not object To do the very things I am declaring I'd undertake for _thee_, with selfless daring, If thou wert mine.If we wer
- 70 The bargain lookit fair eneugh-- She just was turned o' saxty-three-- I couldna guessed she'd prove sae teugh, By human ingenuity.But years have come, and years have gane, And there she's yet as stieve as stane-- The limmer's growin' young again, Sin
- 71 Parson's la.s.s 'ant nowt, an' she weant 'a nowt when 'e's dead, Mun be a guvness, lad, or summut, and addle her bread: Why? fur 'e's n.o.bbut a curate, an' weant niver git naw 'igher; An' 'e's maade the bed as 'e ligs on afoor 'e coom'd t
- 72 He sees me in to supper go, A silken wonder by my side, Bare arms, bare shoulders, and a row Of flounces, for the door too wide.He thinks how happy is my arm, 'Neath its white-gloved and jewelled load; And wishes me some dreadful harm, Hearing the merry
- 73 A RHYMESTER Jem writes his verses with more speed Than the printers boy can set em; Quite as fast as we can read, And only not so fast as we forget em. _Samuel Taylor Coleridge._ GILESS HOPE What? rise again with _all_ ones bones, Quoth Giles, I hope you
- 74 A REMEDY WORSE THAN THE DISEASE I sent for Ratcliffe; was so ill, That other doctors gave me over: He felt my pulse, prescribed his pill, And I was likely to recover. But when the wit began to wheeze, And wine had warmd the politician, Cured yesterday of
- 75 ON HEARING A LADY PRAISE A CERTAIN REV. DOCTORS EYES I cannot praise the Doctors eyes; I never saw his glance divine; He always shuts them when he prays, And when he preaches he shuts mine. _George Outram._ EPITAPH INTENDED FOR HIS WIFE Here lies my wife:
- 76 OF ALL THE MEN Of all the men one meets about, There's none like Jack--he's everywhere: At church--park--auction--dinner--rout-- Go when and where you will, he's there.Try the West End, he's at your back-- Meets you, like Eurus, in the East-- You're
- 77 A Turk was standing upon the sh.o.r.e Right where the terrible Russian crossed; And he cried, "Bismillah! I'm Abd el Kor-- Bazaroukilgonautoskobrosk-- Getzinpravadi-- Kilgekosladji-- Grivido-- Blivido-- Jenikodosk!"So they stood like brave men, long an
- 78 [Footnote 6: Magraw, a Gaelic term of endearment, often heard on the baseball fields of Donnybrook.][Footnote 7: These last six words are all that tradition has preserved of the original incantation by means of which Irish rats were rhymed to death. There
- 79 BYGONES Or ever a lick of Art was done, Or ever a one to care, I was a Purple Polygon, And you were a Sky-Blue Square.You yearned for me across a void, For I lay in a different plane, I'd set my heart on a Red Rhom_boid_, And your sighing was in vain.You
- 80 BY DR. OL-V-R W-ND-L H-LMES A diagnosis of our hist'ry proves Our native land a land its native loves; Its birth a deed obstetric without peer, Its growth a source of wonder far and near.To love it more behold how foreign sh.o.r.es Sink into nothingness
- 81 How they do blaze! I wonder why They keep them on the ground.At first I caught hold of the wing, And kept away; but Mr. Thing- umbob, the prompter man, Gave with his hand my chaise a shove, And said, "Go on, my pretty love; Speak to 'em little Nan."You
- 82 THE MORAL In one's language one conservative should be; Speech is silver and it never should be free!_Guy Wetmore Carryl._ BEHOLD THE DEEDS!CHANT ROYAL (Being the Plaint of Adolphe Culpepper Ferguson, Salesman of Fancy Notions, held in durance of his Lan
- 83 Yea! sharp with them there bags of mysteree!For lo!" she ses, "for lo! old pal," ses she, "I'm blooming peckish, neither more nor less."Was it not prime--I leave you all to guess How prime!--to have a Jude in love's distress Come spooning round, an
- 84 Is it a pony? If so, who will change it?O golfer, be quiet, and mark where it scuds, And think of its paces--of owners and races-- Relinquish the links for the study of studs.Not understood? Take me hence! Take me yonder!Take me away to the land of my res
- 85 Man's an Anthropoid--he cannot help that, you know-- First evoluted from Pongos of old; He's but a branch of the _catarrhine_ cat, you know-- Monkey I mean--that's an ape with a cold.Fast dying out are man's later Appearances, Cataclysmitic Geologies
- 86 And so when time has ebbed away, Like childish wreaths too lightly held, The song of immemorial eld Shall moan about the belted bay.Where slant Orion slopes his star, To swelter in the rolling seas, Till slowly widening by degrees The grey climbs upward f
- 87 When as to shoot my Julia goes, Then, then (methinks), how bravely shows That rare arrangement of her clothes!So shod as when the Huntress Maid With thumping buskin bruised the glade, She moveth, making earth afraid.Against the sting of random chaff Her l
- 88 The skies they were ashen and sober, The streets they were dirty and drear; It was night in the month of October, Of my most immemorial year; Like the skies I was perfectly sober, As I stopped at the mansion of Shear,-- At the "Nightingale,"--perfectly
- 89 In the lonesome latter years (Fatal years!) To the dropping of my tears Danced the mad and mystic spheres In a rounded, reeling rune, 'Neath the moon, To the dripping and the dropping of my tears.Ah, my soul is swathed in gloom, (Ulalume!) In a dim t.i.t
- 90 SALAD O cool in the summer is salad, And warm in the winter is love; And a poet shall sing you a ballad Delicious thereon and thereof.A singer am I, if no sinner, My muse has a marvellous wing, And I willingly wors.h.i.+p at dinner The Sirens of Spring.Ta
- 91 Mother beside the fire Sat, her nightcap in; Father, in easy chair, Gloomily napping, When at the window-sill Came a light tapping!And a pale countenance Looked through the cas.e.m.e.nt, Loud beat the mother's heart, Sick with amazement, And at the visio
- 92 He could not know in Pimlico, As little she in Seville, That _I_ should reel upon that peel, And--wish them at the devil!_Frederick Locker-Lampson._ ELEGY The jackals prowl, the serpents hiss In what was once Persepolis.Proud Babylon is but a trace Upon t
- 93 Know'st thou not "mercy is not strain'd, But droppeth as the gentle dew,"And while it blesseth him who gain'd, It blesseth him who gave it, too?Say, what art thou? and what is he, Pale victim of despair and pain, Whose streaming eyes and bended knee
- 94 THE HUSBAND'S PEt.i.tION Come hither, my heart's darling, Come, sit upon my knee, And listen, while I whisper, A boon I ask of thee.You need not pull my whiskers So amorously, my dove; 'Tis something quite apart from The gentle cares of love.I feel a b
- 95 One, whom we see not, is; and one, who is not, we see; Fiddle, we know, is diddle; and diddle, we take it, is dee._Algernon Charles Swinburne._ NEPHELIDIA From the depth of the dreamy decline of the dawn through a notable nimbus of nebulous moons.h.i.+ne,
- 96 We seek to know, and knowing seek; We seek, we know, and every sense Is trembling with the great Intense And vibrating to what we speak.We ask too much, we seek too oft, We know enough, and should no more; And yet we skim through Fancy's lore And look to
- 97 The farmer's daughter hath soft brown hair; (_b.u.t.ter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) And I met with a ballad, I can't say where, Which wholly consisted of lines like these.PART II She sat with her hands 'neath her dimpled cheeks, (_b.u.
- 98 _Richard Le Gallienne._ ISRAFIDDLESTRINGS In heaven a Spirit doth dwell Whose heart strings are a fiddle, (The reason he sings so well-- This fiddler Israfel), And the giddy stars (will any one tell Why giddy?) to attend his spell Cease their hymns in the
- 99 THE LITTLE STAR Scintillate, scintillate, globule orific, Fain would I fathom thy nature's specific.Loftily poised in ether capacious, Strongly resembling a gem carbonaceous.When torrid Ph[oe]bus refuses his presence And ceases to lamp with fierce in
- 100 Of all the mismated pairs ever created The worst of the lot were the Spratts.Their life was a series of quibbles and queries And quarrels and squabbles and spats.They argued at breakfast, they argued at tea, And they argued from midnight to quarter past t