High School Daze

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The Jumblies

Edward Lear

Nonsense Poetry

The Jumblies 

by Edward Lear

 

 

I

They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,

   In a Sieve they went to sea:

In spite of all their friends could say,

On a winter’s morn, on a stormy day,

   In a Sieve they went to sea!

And when the Sieve turned round and round,

And every one cried, ‘You’ll all be drowned!’

They called aloud, ‘Our Sieve ain’t big,

But we don’t care a button! we don’t care a fig!

   In a Sieve we’ll go to sea!’

      Far and few, far and few,

         Are the lands where the Jumblies live;

      Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

         And they went to sea in a Sieve.

 

 

II

  They sailed away in a Sieve, they did,

   In a Sieve they sailed so fast,

With only a beautiful pea-green veil

Tied with a riband by way of a sail,

   To a small tobacco-pipe mast;

And every one said, who saw them go,

‘O won’t they be soon upset, you know!

For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long,

And happen what may, it’s extremely wrong

   In a Sieve to sail so fast!’

      Far and few, far and few,

         Are the lands where the Jumblies live;

      Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

         And they went to sea in a Sieve.

 

 

III

  The water it soon came in, it did,

   The water it soon came in;

So to keep them dry, they wrapped their feet

In a pinky paper all folded neat,

   And they fastened it down with a pin.

And they passed the night in a crockery-jar,

And each of them said, ‘How wise we are!

Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long,

Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong,

   While round in our Sieve we spin!’

      Far and few, far and few,

         Are the lands where the Jumblies live;

      Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

         And they went to sea in a Sieve.

 

 

IV

And all night long they sailed away;

   And when the sun went down,

They whistled and warbled a moony song

To the echoing sound of a coppery gong,

   In the shade of the mountains brown.

‘O Timballo! How happy we are,

When we live in a sieve and a crockery-jar,

And all night long in the moonlight pale,

We sail away with a pea-green sail,

   In the shade of the mountains brown!’

      Far and few, far and few,

         Are the lands where the Jumblies live;

     Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

         And they went to sea in a Sieve.

 

 

V

They sailed to the Western Sea, they did,

   To a land all covered with trees,

And they bought an Owl, and a useful Cart,

And a pound of Rice, and a Cranberry Tart,

   And a hive of silvery Bees.

And they bought a Pig, and some green Jack-daws,

And a lovely Monkey with lollipop paws,

And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree,

   And no end of Stilton Cheese.

      Far and few, far and few,

         Are the lands where the Jumblies live;

      Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

         And they went to sea in a Sieve.

 

 

VI

  And in twenty years they all came back,

   In twenty years or more,

And every one said, ‘How tall they’ve grown!’

For they’ve been to the Lakes, and the Torrible Zone,

   And the hills of the Chankly Bore;

And they drank their health, and gave them a feast

Of dumplings made of beautiful yeast;

And everyone said, ‘If we only live,

We too will go to sea in a Sieve,—

   To the hills of the Chankly Bore!’

      Far and few, far and few,

         Are the lands where the Jumblies live;

      Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,

         And they went to sea in a Sieve.

-- Poem and Illustration by Edward Lear and is in the public domain 

Audio File read by Stefan.S.Fermat

 

The Evil Doers

Nonsense Poetry

THE EVIL DOERS

by Stefan.S.Fermat

Audio File read by Stefan.S.Fermat

The Evil Doers are back in town;
They came back on a train;
They did some evil to a clown
They found him in the rain.

The clown had extra jumbo shoes
He polished Monday nights
He buffed them up with brush of gnu
And glued the soles on tight.

So brightly did the clown shoes shine
They were his pride and joy
Gigantic foot-ware so refined!
Opined this laughing boy.

Darkly did dread doers dupe
The clown to loan his shoes
Whilst eating circus fungus soup
So loopy and confused.

Return my shoes! Oh No! Oh Please!
The clown he did not joke!
He begged upon his knobby knees
He wheezed and then he choked!

The Evil Doers are back in town
It cannot be explained
They did some evil to a clown
And drowned him in the rain.

© 2014, 2015 Stefan.S.Fermat

with apologies to Dana Carvey

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Moi-même

Moi-même

Greetings and Salutations!  Lo, it is I:  Stefan.S.Fermat.  In case you are curious about the name I use it in honor of Pierre de Fermat, the French mathematician.  I am a mathematician as well.  At least that is what my professors told me.  

 En souvenir et l'honneur de Pierre de Fermat

This blog is to to explore literature, music, poetry, art, and counterculture.   And from time to time, mathematics as well.  And, on occasion, other subjects as they strike me.

The title of the blog?   To paraphrase something I once read in a book by Edward Lasker:  In every man's life, we are born, and we die.  In between those two most important events, we have a certain amount of time to accomplish certain things -- learning certain things, developing certain things, experiencing certain things, and so on.  

Regardless of our beliefs about life, the universe, and everything; we are walking on the edge of forever.  

Some of us choose to dance... 


Except as otherwise posted, the following applies to all original Creative Material presented on this blog:

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