SHE came among the gathering crowd, A maiden fair, without pretence, And when they asked her humble name, She whispered mildly, "Common Sense." Her modest garb drew every eye, Her ample cloak, her shoes of leather; And, when they sneered, she simply said, "I dress according to the weather." They argued long, and reasoned loud, In dubious Hindoo phrase mysterious, While she, poor child, could not divine Why girls so young should be so serious. They knew the length of Plato's beard, And how the scholars wrote in Saturn; She studied authors not so deep, And took the Bible for her pattern. And so she said, "Excuse me, friends, I find all have their proper places, And Common Sense should stay at home With cheerful hearts and smiling faces." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BITTER-SWEET: CRADLE SONG [OR, BABYHOOD] by JOSIAH GILBERT HOLLAND LUCIFER IN STARLIGHT by GEORGE MEREDITH THE CASTLE BY THE SEA by JOHANN LUDWIG UHLAND COMPARISON OF LOVE TO A STREAM FALLING FROM THE ALPS by THOMAS WYATT THE MORAL FABLES: THE FOX, THE WOLF, AND THE CADGER by AESOP |