The Voice Of The Lobster
"'Tis the voice of the Lobster:
I heard him declare'You have baked me too brown,
I must sugar my hair.'As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his
Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.
When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark,
And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark:
But, when the tide rises and sharks are around,
His voice has a timid and tremulous sound." "I passed by his garden, and marked, with one eye,
How the Owl and the Panter were sharing a pie:
The Panther took pie-crust, and gravy, and meat,
While the Old had the dish as its share of the treat.
When the pie was all finished, the Owl, as a boon,
Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon:
While the Panther received knife and fork with a growl,
And concluded the banquet by [eating the owl.]NB the final three words are not part of the original in Carroll's story but they are implied by context.
This is a parody of an earlier poem cica 1715 by Isaac Watts entitled The Thanks to Oldpoetry reader Morag for the information.
Lewis Carroll
Other author posts
Dreamland
When midnight mists are creeping, And all the land is sleeping, Around me tread the mighty dead, And slowly pass away
Phantasmagoria Canto II Hys Fyve Rules
MY First - but don't suppose, he said,I'm setting you a riddle -Is - if your Victim be in bed, Don't touch the curtains at his head, But take them in the middle, And wave them slowly in and out, While drawing...
Through The Looking Glass Epilogue
A boat, beneath a sunny Lingering onward In an evening of July —Children three that nestle near, Eager eye and willing
Phantasmagoria Canto IV Hys Nouryture
OH, when I was a little Ghost, A merry time had we Each seated on his favourite post, We chumped and chawed the buttered
