Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FALSE ALARMS, by ADELAIDE O'KEEFFE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FALSE ALARMS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: One day little mary most loudly did call
Last Line: For giving mamma false alarms.
Alternate Author Name(s): O'keefe, Adelaide
Subject(s): Children; Fire; Girls; Lies; Tragedy; Childhood


ONE day little Mary most loudly did call:
"Mamma! O mamma, pray come here,
A fall I have had, oh! a very sad fall!"
Mamma ran in haste and in fear.
Then Mary jumped up, and she laughed in great glee,
And cried: "Why, how fast you can run!
No harm has befallen, I assure you, to me,
My screaming was only in fun."

Her mother was busy at work the next day,
She heard from without a loud cry:
"The great Dog has got me! O help me! O pray!
He tears me, he bites me, I die!"
Mamma, all in terror, quick to the court flew,
And there little Mary she found;
Who, laughing, said: "Madam, pray how do you do?"
And curtseyed quite down to the ground.

That night little Mary was some time in bed,
When cries and loud shrieking were heard:
"I'm on fire, O mamma! O come up, or I'm dead!"
Mamma she believed not a word.
"Sleep, sleep, naughty child," she called out from below,
"How often have I been deceived!
You are telling a story, you very well know:
Go to sleep, for you can't be believed."

Yet still the child screamed; now the house filled with smoke.
"That fire is above," Jane declares.
Alas! Mary's words they soon found were no joke,
When ev'ry one hastened up-stair.
All burnt and all seamed is her once pretty face,
And terribly marked are her arms,
Her features all scarred, leave a lasting disgrace,
For giving mamma false alarms.





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