Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BALLADE OF THE TEMPTING BOOK, by THOMAS AUGUSTINE DALY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BALLADE OF THE TEMPTING BOOK, by                    
First Line: Sometimes when I sit down at night
Last Line: "the oxford book of english verse."
Alternate Author Name(s): Daly, T. A.
Subject(s): Books; Oxford University; Reading


SOMETIMES when I sit down at night
And try to think of something new,
Some odd conceit that I may write
And work into a verse or two,
There often dawns upon my view,
The while my feeble thoughts I nurse,
A little book in gold and blue --
"The Oxford Book of English Verse."

And though I try, in wild affright
At thought of all I have to do,
To keep that volume out of sight,
If I so much as look askew
I catch it playing peek-a-boo.
Then work may go to -- pot, or worse!
I'm giving up the evening to
"The Oxford Book of English Verse."

O! some for essays recondite,
And some for frothy fiction sue,
But give to me for my delight
One tuneful tome to ramble through;
To hear the first quaint "Sing Cuccu!"
And all those noble songs rehearse
Whose deathless melodies imbue
"The Oxford Book of English Verse."

L'Envoi

Kind Reader, here's a tip for you:
Go buy, though skinny be your purse
And other books of yours be few,
"The Oxford Book of English Verse."





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