• A A Milne

    Happiness

    John had
    Great Big
    Waterproof
    Boots on;
    John had a
    Great Big
    Waterproof
    Hat;
    John had a
    Great Big
    Waterproof
    Mackintosh —
    And that
    (Said John)
    Is
    That.

  • Charles E Carryl

    The Sleepy Giant

    My age is three hundred and seventy-two,
    And I think, with the deepest regret,
    How I used to pick up and voraciously chew
    The dear little boys whom I met.
    I’ve eaten them raw, in their holiday suits;
    I’ve eaten them curried with rice;
    I’ve eaten them baked, in their jackets and boots,
    And found them exceedingly nice.
    But now that my jaws are too weak for such fare,
    I think it exceedingly rude
    To do such a thing, when I’m quite well aware
    Little boys do not like being chewed.

    And so I contentedly live upon eels,
    And try to do nothing amiss,
    And I pass all the time I can spare from my meals
    In innocent slumber — like this.

  • Henry David Thoreau

    I am a Parcel of Vain Strivings Tied

    I am a parcel of vain strivings tied
    By a chance bond together,
    Dangling this way and that, their links
    Were made so loose and wide,
    Methinks,
    For milder weather.

  • Fleur Adcock

     
    Immigrant

    November ’63: eight months in London.
    I pause on the low bridge to watch the pelicans:
    they float swanlike, arching their white necks
    over only slightly ruffled bundles of wings,
    burying awkward beaks in the lake’s water.

    I clench cold fists in my Marks and Spencer`s jacket
    and secretly test my accent once again:
    St James’s Park; St James’s Park; St James’s Park.