Complete Works of Lewis Carroll (111 page)

 

 

The Poetry Collections

 

 

Richmond School, North Yorkshire, where Carroll studied in his youth

MY FAIRY

(1845)

I have a fairy by my side

Which says I must not sleep,

When once in pain I loudly cried

It said “You must not weep.”

If, full of mirth, I smile and grin,

It says “You must not laugh;”

When once I wished to drink some gin

It said “You must not quaff.”

When once a meal I wished to taste

It said “You must not bite;”

When to the wars I went in haste

It said “You must not fight.”

“What may I do?”
at length I cried,

Tired of the painful task.

The fairy quietly replied,

And said “You must not ask.”

Moral: “You mustn't.”

 

PUNCTUALITY

Man naturally loves delay,

And to procrastinate;

Business put off from day to day

Is always done too late.

Let every hour be in its place

Firm fixed, nor loosely shift,

And well enjoy the vacant space,

As though a birthday gift.

And when the hour arrives, be
there
,

Where'er that “there” may be;

Uncleanly hands or ruffled hair

Let no one ever see.

If dinner at “half-past” be placed,

At “half-past” then be dressed.

If at a “quarter-past” make haste

To be down with the rest.

Better to be before your time,

Than e'er to be behind;

To ope the door while strikes the chime,

That
shows a punctual mind.

 

Moral

Let punctuality and care

Seize every flitting hour,

So shalt thou cull a floweret fair,

E'en from a fading flower.

 

MELODIES

I

There was an old farmer of Readall,

Who made holes in his face with a needle,

Then went
far
deeper in

Than to pierce through the skin,

And yet strange to say he was made beadle.

II

There was an eccentric old draper,

Who wore a hat made of brown paper,

It went up to a point,

Yet it looked out of joint,

The cause of which
he
said was “vapour.”

III

There was once a young man of Oporta,

Who daily got shorter and shorter,

The reason he said

Was the hod on his head,

Which was filled with the
heaviest
mortar.

His sister, named Lucy O'Finner,

Grew constantly thinner and thinner;

The reason was plain,

She slept out in the rain,

And was never allowed any dinner.

 

BROTHER AND SISTER

“Sister, sister, go to bed!

Go and rest your weary head.”

Thus the prudent brother said.

“Do you want a battered hide,

Or scratches to your face applied?”

Thus his sister calm replied.

“Sister, do not raise my wrath.

I'd make you into mutton broth

As easily as kill a moth!”

The sister raised her beaming eye

And looked on him indignantly

And sternly answered, “Only try!”

Off to the cook he quickly ran.

“Dear Cook, please lend a frying-pan

To me as quickly as you can.”

“And wherefore should I lend it you?”

“The reason, Cook, is plain to view.

I wish to make an Irish stew.”

“What meat is in that stew to go?”

“My sister'll be the contents!”

“Oh!”

“You'll lend the pan to me, Cook?”

“No!”

Moral
: Never stew your sister.

 

FACTS

Were I to take an iron gun,

And fire it off towards the sun;

I grant 'twould reach its mark at last,

But not till many years had passed.

But should that bullet change its force,

And to the planets take its course,

'Twould
never
reach the
nearest
star,

Because it is so
very
far.

 

RULES AND REGULATIONS

A short direction

To avoid dejection,

By variations

In occupations,

And prolongation

Of relaxation,

And combinations

Of recreations,

And disputation

On the state of the nation

In adaptation

To your station,

By invitations

To friends and relations,

By evitation

Of amputation,

By permutation

In conversation,

And deep reflection

You'll avoid dejection.

Learn well your grammar,

And never stammer,

Write well and neatly,

And sing most sweetly,

Be enterprising,

Love early rising,

Go walk of six miles,

Have ready quick smiles,

With lightsome laughter,

Soft flowing after.

Drink tea, not coffee;

 

Never eat toffy.

Eat bread with butter.

Once more, don't stutter.

Don't waste your money,

Abstain from honey.

Shut doors behind you,

(Don't slam them, mind you.)

Drink beer, not porter.

Don't enter the water

Till to swim you are able.

Sit close to the table.

Take care of a candle.

Shut a door by the handle,

Don't push with your shoulder

Until you are older.

Lose not a button.

Refuse cold mutton.

Starve your canaries.

Believe in fairies.

If you are able,

Don't have a stable

With any mangers.

Be rude to strangers.

Moral: Behave.

 

HORRORS

 

Methought I walked a dismal place

Dim horrors all around;

The air was thick with many a face,

And black as night the ground.

I saw a monster come with speed,

Its face of grimmliest green,

On human beings used to feed,

Most dreadful to be seen.

I could not speak, I could not fly,

I fell down in that place,

I saw the monster's horrid eye

Come leering in my face!

Amidst my scarcely-stifled groans,

Amidst my moanings deep,

I heard a voice, “Wake!
Mr.
Jones,

You're screaming in your sleep!”

 

MISUNDERSTANDINGS

If such a thing had been my thought,

I should have told you so before,

But as I didn't, then you ought

To ask for such a thing no more,

For to teach one who has been taught

Is always thought an awful bore.

Now to commence my argument,

I shall premise an observation,

On which the greatest kings have leant

When striving to subdue a nation,

And e'en the wretch who pays no rent

By it can solve a hard equation.

Its truth is such, the force of reason

Can not avail to shake its power,

Yet e'en the sun in summer season

Doth not dispel so mild a shower

As this, and he who sees it, sees on

Beyond it to a sunny bower—

No more, when ignorance is treason,

Let wisdom's brows be cold and sour.

 

AS IT FELL UPON A DAY

As I was sitting on the hearth

(And O, but a hog is fat!)

A man came hurrying up the path,

(
And what care I for that?)

When he came the house unto,

His breath both quick and short he drew.

When he came before the door,

His face grew paler than before.

When he turned the handle round,

The man fell fainting to the ground.

When he crossed the lofty hall,

Once and again I heard him fall.

When he came up to the turret stair,

He shrieked and tore his raven hair.

When he came my chamber in,

(And O, but a hog is fat!)

I ran him through with a golden pin,

(And what care I for that?)

 

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