September's Poetry

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SOLITUDE -- A.A. Milne
GO WIND --Lilian Moore
JABBERWOCKY --- Lewis Carroll
&
Humpty Dumpty's Interpretation (Alice in Wonderland)
THE STAR
Jane Taylor
THE SUN
John Drinkwater
FOG
Carl Sandburg
THE PIRATE DON DURK OF DOWDEE
Mildred Plew Meigs
MRS. SNIPKIN AND MRS. WOBBLECHIN
Laura E. Richards
MUD
Polly Chase Boyden
Solitude
---A.A. Milne
I have a house where I go
When there's too many people,
I have a house where I go
Where no one can be;
I have a house where I go,
Where nobody ever says "No";
Where no one says anything --- so
There is no one but me.

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Go Wind
--Lilian Moore
Go Wind, blow
Push wind, swoosh.
Shake things
take things
make things
fly.
 
Ring things
swing things
fling things
high.
 
Go wind, blow
Push things
wheee.
 
No, wind, no.
Not me ---
not me.
 

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JABBERWOCKY
By Lewis Carroll
 
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the barogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
 
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
 
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought ---
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
 
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
 
One, two! One two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
 
 
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
 
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
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Humpty Dumpty's Interpretation - "Alice In Wonderland"
 
"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe."
 
"That's enough to begin with," Humpty Dumpty interrupted: "there are plenty of hard words there. 'Brillig' means four o'clock in the afternoon --- the time when you begin broiling things for dinner."
"That'll do very well," said Alice. "And 'slithy'?"
"Well, 'slithy' means 'lithe and slimy.' 'Lithe' is the same as 'active.' You see, it's like a portmanteau --- there are two meanings packed up in one word."
"I see it now," Alice remarked thoughtfully. "And what are 'toves'?"
"Well, 'toves' are something like badgers --- they're something like lizards --- and they're something like corkscrews."
"They must be very curious-looking creatures."
"They are that," said Humpty Dumpty, "also they make their nests under sundials --- also they live on cheese."
"And what's to 'gryre' and 'gimble'?"
"To 'gyre' is to go round and round like a gyroscope. To 'gimble' is to make holes like a gimlet."
"And 'the wabe' is the grass plot round a sundial, I suppose?" said Alice, surprised at her own ingenuity.
"Of course it is. It's called 'wabe,' you know, because it goes a long way before it, and a long way behind it."
"And a long way beyond it on each side," Alice added.
"Exactly so. Well, then, 'mimsy' is flimsy and miserable (there's another portmanteau for you). And a 'borogove' is a thin, shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round --- something like a live mop."
"And then 'mome raths'?" said Alice. "I'm afraid I'm giving you a great deal of trouble."
"Well, a 'rath' is a sort of green pig: but 'mome' I'm not certain about. I think it's short for 'from home' --- meaning that they'd lost their way, you know."
"And what does 'outgrabe' mean?"
"Well, 'outgribing' is something between bellowing and whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the middle; however, you'll hear it done, maybe --- down in the wood yonder --- and when you've once heard it you'll be quite content. Who's been repeating all that hard stuff to you?"
 
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THE STAR
Jane Taylor
 
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky.

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THE SUN
John Drinkwater
 
I told the Sun that I was glad,
I'm sure I don't know why;
Somehow the pleasant way he had
Of shining in the sky,
Just put a notion in my head
That wouldn't it be fun
If, walking on the hill, I said
"I'm happy" to the Sun.

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FOG
Carl Sandburg
 
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
 
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

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THE PIRATE DON DURK OF DOWDEE
Mildred Plew Meigs
 
Ho, for the Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee!
He was as wicked as wicked could be,
But oh, he was perfectly gorgeous to see!
The Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee.
 
His conscience, of course, was as black as a bat,
But he had a floppety plume on his hat
And when he went walking it jiggled -- like that!
The plume of the Pirate Dowdee.
 
His coat it was crimson and cut with a slash,
And often as ever he twirled his mustache
Deep down in the ocean the mermaids went splash,
Because of Don Durk of Dowdee.
 
Moreover, Dowdee had a purple tattoo,
And stuck in his belt where he buckled it through
Were a dagger, a dirk and a squizzamaroo,
For fierce was the Pirate Dowdee.
 
So fearful he was he would shoot at a puff,
And always at sea when the weather grew rough
He drank from a bottle and wrote on his cuff,
Did Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee.
 
Oh, he had a cutlass that swung at his thigh
And he had a parrot called Pepperkin Pye,
And a zigzaggy scar at the end of his eye
Had Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee.
 
He kept in a cavern, this buccaneer bold,
A curious chest that was covered with mould,
And all of his pockets were jingly with gold!
Oh jing! went the gold of Dowdee.
 
His conscience, of course, it was crook'd like a squash,
But both of his boots made a slickery slosh,
And he went through the world with a wonderful swash,
Did the Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee.
 
It's true he was wicked as wicked could be,
His sins they outnumbered a hundred and three,
But oh, he was perfectly gorgeous to see,
The Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee.

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MRS. SNIPKIN AND MRS. WOBBLECHIN
Laura E. Richards
 
Skinny Mrs. Snipkin,
With her little pipkin,
Sat by the fireside a-warming of her toes.
Fat Mrs. Wobblechin,
With her little doublechin,
Sat by the window a-cooling of her nose.
 
Says this one to that one,
"Oh! you silly fat one,
Will you shut the window down? You're freezing me to death!"
Says that one to t' other one,
"Good gracious, how you bother one!
There isn't air enough for me to draw my precious breath!"
 
Skinny Mrs. Snipkin,
Took her little pipkin,
Threw it straight across the room as hard as she could throw;
Hit Mrs. Wobblechin
On her little doublechin,
And out of the window a-tumble she did go.

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MUD
Polly Chase Boyden
 
Mud is very nice to feel
All squishy-squash between the toes!
I'd rather wade in wiggly mud
Than smell a yellow rose.
 
Nobody else but the rosebush knows
How nice mud feels
Between the toes.

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