Suppose, my dear, that you were I

For when he tackled to a thing ‘nd sot his mind plum to it,You bet yer boots he done that thing though it broke the bank to do it!So all us boys uz knowed him best allowed he wuzn’t jokin’When on a Sunday he remarked uz how he’d gin up smokin’.Now this remark, that Ed…

You come for cream and to gar me dream,But you dinna find me sleepin’.The moonbeam, that upon the floorWi’ crickets ben a-jinkin’,Now steals away fra’ her bonnie play–Wi’ a rosier blie, I’m thinkin’.I saw you, Maister Bawsy-brown,When the blue bells went a-ringin’For the merrie fays o’ the banks an’ braes,And I kenned your bonnie singin’;The…

Seek not to learn, Leuconoe; we may not know;Chaldean tables cannot bring us rest–‘Tis for the bestTo bear in patience what may come, or weal or woe.If for more winters our poor lot is cast,Or this the last,Which on the crumbling rocks has dashed Etruscan seas;Strain clear the wine–this life is short, at best;Take hope…

The veriest clod with riches and renown,And change a triumph to a funeralThe tillers of the soil and they that vex the seas,Confessing thee supreme, on bended kneesInvoke thee, all.Of Dacian tribes, of roving Scythian bands,Of cities, nations, lawless tyrants redWith guiltless blood, art thou the haunting dread;Within thy path no human valor stands,And, arbiter…

But, lo! he toddling comes to lureMy parent ear with timorous knock.My heart were stone could it withstandThe sweetness of my baby’s plea,–That timorous, baby knocking and‘Please let me in,–it’s only me.’I threw aside the unfinished book,Regardless of its tempting charms,And opening wide the door, I tookMy laughing darling in my arms.Who knows but in…

As up the street we come,Wonderful is our noise!There’s Tom, and Jim, and Phil,And Dick, and Nat, and Fred,While Widow Cutler’s BillAnd I march on ahead,With a r-r-rat-tat-tatAnd a tum-titty-um-tum-tum –Oh, there’s bushels of fun in thatFor boys with a little red drum!The Injuns came last nightWhile the soldiers were abed,And they gobbled a Chinese…