| I wrote some lines once on a time |
| In wondrous merry mood, |
| And thought, as usual, men would say |
| They were exceeding good. |
| |
| They were so queer, so very queer, |
| I laughed as I would die; |
| Albeit, in the general way, |
| A sober man am I. |
| |
| I called my servant, and he came; |
| How kind it was of him |
| To mind a slender man like me, |
| He of the mighty limb! |
| |
| "These to the printer," I exclaimed, |
| And, in my humorous way, |
| I added (as a trifling jest), |
| "There'll be the devil to pay." |
| |
| He took the paper, and I watched, |
| And saw him peep within; |
| At the first line he read, his face |
| Was all upon the grin. |
| |
| He read the next; the grin grew broad, |
| And shot from ear to ear; |
| He read the third; a chuckling noise |
| I now began to hear. |
| |
| The fourth; he broke into a roar; |
| The fifth; his waistband split; |
| The sixth; he burst five buttons off, |
| And tumbled in a fit. |
| |
| Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye, |
| I watched that wretched man, |
| And since, I never dare to write |
| As funny as I can. |
| |
| Oliver Wendell Holmes. |
