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.
       
      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.
       
      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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