IT was early last September nigh to Framlin'amon-Sea, An' 'twas Fair-day come to-morrow, an' the time was after tea, An' I met a painted caravan adown a dusty lane, A Pharaoh with his waggons comin' jolt an' creak an' strain; A cheery cove an' sunburnt, bold o' eye and wrinkled up, An' beside him on the splashboard sat a brindled tarrier pup, An' a lurcher wise as Solomon an' lean as fiddle-strings Was joggin' in the dust along 'is roundabouts and swings. "Goo'-day," said 'e; "Goo'-day," said I; "an' 'ow d'you find things go, An' what's the chance o' millions when you runs a travellin' show?" "I find," said 'e, "things very much as 'ow I've always found, For mostly they goes up and down or else goes round and round." Said 'e, "The job's the very spit o' what it always were, It's bread and bacon mostly when the dog don't catch a 'are; But lookin' at it broad, an' while it ain't no merchant king's, What's lost upon the roundabouts we pulls up on the swings!" "Goo' luck," said 'e; "Goo' luck," said I; "you've put it past a doubt; An' keep that lurcher on the road, the gamekeepers is out;" 'E thumped upon the footboard an' 'e lumbered on again To meet a gold-dust sunset down the owl-light in the lane; An' the moon she climbed the 'azels, while a nightjar seemed to spin That Pharaoh's wisdom o'er again, 'is sooth of lose-and-win; For "up an' down an' round," said 'e, "goes all appointed things, An' losses on the roundabouts means profits on the swings!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AUTUMN MORNING AT CAMBRIDGE by FRANCES CROFTS DARWIN CORNFORD MAUDE CLARE by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI SONG (10) by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 109 by PHILIP SIDNEY SONG AT THE FEAST OF BROUGHAM CASTLE; UPON RSTORATION OF LORD CLIFFORD by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH CLIO, NINE ECLOGUES IN HONOUR OF NINE VIRTUES: APOLOGY TO CLEO by WILLIAM BASSE ETHELWALD, FR. METRICAL HISTORY OF ST. CUTHBERT by BEDE |