AH! many a guest is coming Around my table to-day; The fish, the flesh, and the poultry Are smoking in goodly array; The invitations were special, They say they will surely appear. Hans, go look at the window; Time that the people were here! Girls are coming by dozens, Maidens whom even their foes Never have once detected Kissing beneath the rose; Such are the damsels invited; They said they would surely appear Hans, go look at the window; Time that the maidens were here! Plenty of fine young fellows Are coming to drink my health; Civil, and moral, and modest, Spite of their titles and wealth. The invitations were early; They say they will surely appear. Hans, go look at the window; Time that the younkers were here! Plenty of wives are coming, Such as the ugliest spouse Never has driven a moment To think of breaking their vows. How pleasant to see them together! They said they would surely appear. Hans, go look at the window; Time that the women were here! Husbands also are coming, Models of temperate lives; Men who are blind to beauty, Save in their excellent wives. All were politely invited, And say they will surely appear. Hans, go look at the window; Time that the fellows were here! Poets are also invited; The pleasantest ever were known; Who list to another's verses Cheerfully as to their own; What capital dining companions! They said they would surely appear. Hans, go look at the window; Time that the poets were here! Alas! with watching and waiting, The dinner is certainly spoiled; The viands are cold in the dishes, The roast and the baked and the boiled. Perhaps we were over-punctilious; Our feast is a failure, I fear. Hans, come away from the window; Never a one will be here! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MACFLECKNOE; OR, A SATIRE UPON THE TRUE-BLUE-PROTESTANT POET by JOHN DRYDEN THE CAVALIER'S SONG by WILLIAM MOTHERWELL THE STENOGRAPHERS by PATRICIA KATHLEEN PAGE UNDERWOODS: BOOK 1: 38 by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON THE RAINBOW [IN THE SKY] by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH THE BLIND ASTRONOMER by THOMAS ASA FROM AN OFFICE WINDOW by FRANCES M. BALLARD |