Four-Foot Shelf
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
'Come, see,' said he, 'my four-foot shelf,
A forty volume row;
And every one I wrote myself,
But that, of course, you know.'
I stared, I searched a memory dim,
For though an author too,
Somehow I'd never heard of him,--
None of his books I knew.
Said I: 'I'd like to borrow one,
Fond memories to recall.'
Said he: 'I'll gladly give you some,
And autograph them all.'
And so a dozen books he brought,
And signed tome after tome:
Of course I thanked him quite a lot,
And took them home.
So now I have to read his work,
Though dry as dust it be;
No portion of it may I shirk,
Lest he should question me.
This tale is true,--although it looks
To me a bloody shame,
A guy could father forty books,
yet no one know his name.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 44 sec read
- 100 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABCDCD XEXEXFXF GHGHIJIJ |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 823 |
Words | 150 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
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"Four-Foot Shelf" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/32134/four-foot-shelf>.
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