What Grandpa Mouse Said

Vachel Lindsay 1879 (Springfield) – 1931 (Springfield)



The moon’s a holy owl-queen.
She keeps them in a jar
Under her arm till evening,
Then sallies forth to war.

She pours the owls upon us.
They hoot with horrid noise
And eat the naughty mousie-girls
And wicked mousie-boys.

So climb the moonvine every night
And to the owl-queen pray:
Leave good green cheese by moonlit trees
For her to take away.

And never squeak, my children,
Nor gnaw the smoke-house door:
The owl-queen then will love us
And send her birds no more.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 22, 2023

26 sec read
408

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXA BCXC XDXD XABA
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 461
Words 87
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Vachel Lindsay

Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was an American poet. more…

All Vachel Lindsay poems | Vachel Lindsay Books

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