IF all the world were paper, And all the sea were ink, And all the trees were bread and cheese, What should we do for drink? If all the world were sand-o, Oh, then what should we lack-o? If, as they say, there were no clay, How should we take tobacco? If all our vessels ran-a, If none but had a crack: If Spanish apes ate all the grapes, How should we do for sack? If friars had no bald pates, Nor nuns had no dark cloisters; If all the seas were beans and peas, How should we do for oysters? If there had been no projects, Nor none that did great wrongs; If fiddlers should turn players all, How should we do for songs? If all things were eternal, And nothing their end bringing; If this should be, then how should we Here make an end of singing? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CRY WOE, WOE, AND LET THE GOOD PREVAIL, FR. AGAMEMNON by AESCHYLUS EVENING TRAINS by MARY TRUE AYER EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 26. PLATONIC LOVE by PHILIP AYRES AGNOSTIC TO MYSTIC by WILLIAM ROSE BENET WAR AUTOBIOGRAPHY; WRITTEN IN ILLNESS by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN A PRAYER FOR A LITTLE HOME by FLORENCE BONE PILGRIM MOTHERS by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN LINES SUGGESTED BY THE FOURTEENTH OF FEBRUARY (2) by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY |