[A Modern Version.] "Well, now," drawled the fairy, "I'll grant you three wishes." "Not me," said the housewife, "I'm not super-stitious, Yet I think you'd be put in a bit of a box, If I wished that my husband wore self-darning socks." "'Tis done," said the fairy, "this day they begin, If ever they ravel, to heal like his skin." "Well, then," said the housewife, "as wishes are reckoned, I figure my next wish is only my second, And so, to escape a detestable chore, I wish every room had a self-sweeping floor." The fairy's face darkened. "You're very adept At wishing," she cried, "but your floors shall be swept, And if too cleanly swept, recollect you preferred To trifle with fortune. And now for the third." "Oh, well," said the housewife, "the last of my wishes Is simple enough. I want self-washing dishes!" The good fairy screamed and went up in the air; "I shall picket your house! I shall post you 'Unfair'! Had you asked me for rubies or royal connection, For moderate hips or a paint-proof complexion, For fame in the movies, or freedom from bunions, For a violet breath, after suppers of onions, But to ask me -- a fairy, a miniature mystic, For self-washing dishes -- the thing's -- Bolshe-vistic!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LANDSCAPES (FOR CLEMENT R. WOOD) by LOUIS UNTERMEYER FRAGMENTS INTENDED FOR DEATH'S JEST-BOOK: A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES LINCOLN by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE ROSE AND THORN by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE AN HYMN TO THE EVENING by PHILLIS WHEATLEY |