I NEVER was, nor yet I am; I never spake, and yet I talk; I ne'er was born, yet I must die; I've active feet, yet I ne'er walk. No body, voice, or shape I claim; No hands or even legs to help me, And yet when you have found my name, You'll own you've often seen, heard, felt me. Are you a maiden prim and shy, And at some youngster set your cap, When your sweet Strephon passed by You saw me near his jetty hat? Perhaps a buxom widow may Yearn to know my deep hid name; What she weeps for let her say -- What she smiles at, I'm the same. If a fond wife you chance to be, You can fully solve me, madam; In extremes I'm known to thee; Sometimes I'm merry, sometimes sad am. Romping girls and prudish misses, Matrons grave and Elders show me; Squires, Captains share my blisses, But old Bachelors can't know me. I cough, I weep, I laugh, I sneeze, I hear, I see, I smile, I frown, I drown, I burn, I melt, I freeze, And am the joke of all the town: And yet no features mark my face, No passions in my heart you'll find, No feelings in my limbs you'll trace, And I am wiser than mankind. Then guess me out and tell my name, Tho none have I, and what is stranger? While you have guess'd, & guess'd in vain, You've mention'd me, and there's my danger. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DESERT NIGHT by FRANCES DAVIS ADAMS THE MORAL FABLES: THE WOLF AND THE LAMB by AESOP WHEN THE FOLKS COME ALONG by FREDERICK L. ALLEN MY GARDEN by KATHARINE CANBY BALDERSTON THE HOUREGLASSE by JOSEPH BEAUMONT HOPE DEFERRED by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON NATALIA'S RESURRECTION: 4 by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT MAXIMS FOR THE OLD HOUSE: THE CHAMBER by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH |