Читать книгу Nye and Riley's Wit and Humor (Poems and Yarns) - Nye Bill, Riley James Whitcomb - Страница 4

"Ki-yi!" said Mr. Squincher,

As in contemplative pose,

He stood before the looking-glass

And burnished up his nose,

And brushed the dandruff from a span-

Spick-splinter suit of clothes, —

"Why, bless you, Mr. Squincher,

You're as handsome as a rose!"

"There are some," continued Squincher,

As he raised upon his toes

To catch his full reflection,

And the fascinating bows

That graced his legs, – "I reckon

There are some folks never knows

How beautiful is human legs

In pantaloons like those!"

"But ah!" sighed Mr. Squincher,

As a ghastly phantom 'rose

And leered above his shoulder

Like the deadliest of foes, —

With fleshless arms and fingers,

And a skull, with glistening rows

Of teeth that crunched and gritted, —

"It's my tailor, I suppose!"

They found him in the morning —

So the mystic legend goes —

With the placid face still smiling

In its statuesque repose; —

With a lily in his left hand,

And in his right a rose,

With their fragrance curling upward

Through a nimbus 'round his nose.