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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FALSE ALARMS, by ADELAIDE O'KEEFFE 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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE THE POET AT SEVEN by DONALD JUSTICE THE RAT by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON |
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