Tit for Tat
Walter de la Mare 1873 (Charlton, London) – 1956 (Twickenham)
Have you been catching fish, Tom Noddy?
Have you snared a weeping hare?
Have you whistled 'No Nunny' and gunned a poor bunny,
Or blinded a bird of the air?
Have you trod like a murderer through the green woods,
Through the dewy deep dingles and glooms,
While every small creature screamed shrill to Dame Nature
'He comes - and he comes!'?
Wonder I very much do,Tom Noddy,
If ever, when off you roam,
An ogre from space will stoop a lean face,
And lug you home:
Lug you home over his fence, Tom Noddy,
Of thorn-sticks nine yards high,
With your bent knees strung round his old iron gun
And your head a dan-dangling by:
And hung you up stiff on a hook, Tom Noddy,
From a stone-cold pantry shelf,
Whence your eyes will glare in an empty stare,
Till you are cooked yourself!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 44 sec read
- 170 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABXB CCXX ADXD AEXE AFBF |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 759 |
Words | 149 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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