Читать книгу Verse and Worse - Graham Harry - Страница 22

Here you will see strange happenings

With absolutely placid eyes;

If all your uncles sprouted wings

You would not feel the least surprise;

The oddest things that you can do

Don't seem a bit absurd to you.

You go (in Dreamland) to a ball,

And suddenly are shocked to find

That you have nothing on at all, —

But somehow no one seems to mind;

And, naturally, you don't care,

If they can bear what you can bare!

Then, in a moment, you're pursued

By engines on a railway track!

Your legs are tied, your feet are glued,

The train comes snorting down your back!

One last attempt at flight you make

And so (in bed) perspiring wake.

You feel so free from weight of cares

That, if the staircase you should climb,

You gaily mount, not single stairs,

But whole battalions at a time;

(My metaphor is mixed, may be,

I quote from Shakespeare, as you see).

If you should eat too much, you pay

(In dreams) the penalty for this;

A nightmare carries you away

And drops you down a precipice!

Down! down! until, with sudden smack,

You strike the mattress with your back.

At meals decline to be a beast;

'Too much is better than a feast.'