LINES TO A YOUNG LADY
by: Edward Lear (1812-1888)
- OW pleasant
to know Mr. Lear!
- Who has written such volumes of stuff!
- Some think him ill-tempered and queer,
- But a few think him pleasant enough.
-
- His mind is concrete and fastidious,
- His nose is remarkably big;
- His visage is more or less hideous,
- His beard it resembles a wig.
-
- He has ears, and two eyes, and ten fingers,
- Leastways if you reckon two thumbs;
- Long ago he was one of the singers,
- But now he is one of the dumbs.
-
- He sits in a beautiful parlour,
- With hundreds of books on the wall;
- He drinks a great deal of Marsala,
- But never gets tipsy at all.
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- He has many friends, laymen and clerical,
- Old Foss is the name of his cat:
- His body is perfectly spherical,
- He weareth a runcible hat.
-
- When he walks in a waterproof white,
- The children run after him so!
- Calling out, "He's come out in his night-
- Gown, that crazy old Englishman, oh!"
-
- He weeps by the side of the ocean,
- He weeps on the top of the hill;
- He purchases pancakes and lotion,
- And chocolate shrimps from the mill.
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- He reads but he cannot speak Spanish,
- He cannod abide ginger-beer:
- Ere the days of his pilgrimage vanish,
- How pleasant to know Mr. Lear.
"Lines to a Young Lady"
is reprinted from A Nonsense Anthology. Ed. Carolyn Wells.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1915. |
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POEMS BY EDWARD LEAR |
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