Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, NEIGHBOR NELLY, by ROBERT BARNABAS BROUGH



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NEIGHBOR NELLY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I'm in love with neighbor nelly
Last Line: To be worthy such a pearl.
Subject(s): Girls


I'm in love with neighbor Nelly,
Though I know she's only ten,
While, alas! I'm eighty-and-forty
And the marriedest of men!
I've a wife who weights me double,
I've three daughters all with beaux:
I've a son with noble whiskers,
Who at me turns up his nose.

Though a square-toes, and a fogey,
Still I've sunshine in my heart;
Still I'm fond of cakes and marbles,
Can appreciate a tart.
I can love my neighbor Nelly
Just as though I were a boy:
I could hand her nuts and apples
From my depths of corduroy.

She is tall, and growing taller,
She is vigorous of limb;
(You should see her play at cricket,
With her little brother Jim.)
She has eyes as blue as damsons,
She has pounds of auburn curls,
She regrets the game of leap-frog
Is prohibited to girls.

I adore my neighbor Nelly,
I invite her in to tea;
And I let her nurse the baby, --
And all her pretty ways to see.
Such a darling bud of woman,
Yet remote from any teens, --
I have learnt from neighbor Nelly
What the girl's doll-instinct means.

O, to see her with the baby!
He adores her more than I, --
How she choruses his crowing, --
How she hushes every cry!
How she loves to pit his dimples
With her light forefinger deep!
How she boasts to me in triumph
When she's got him off the sleep!

We must part, my neighbor Nelly,
For the summers quickly flee;
And your middle-aged admirer
Must supplanted quickly be.
Yet as jealous as a mother, --
A distempered, cankered churl,
I look vainly for the setting
To be worthy such a pearl.





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