”The Mad Gardener’s Song” is such a wonderful title that I can’t resist quoting four of the verses from one of my favourite nonsense poems.
He though he saw an Elephant,
That practiced on a fife:
He looked again, and found it was
A letter from his wife.
‘At length I realise’, he said,
‘The bitterness of Life!’
He thought he saw a Banker’s Clerk
Descending from the bus:
He looked again, and found it was
A Hippopoptamus.
‘If this should stay to dine’, he said,
‘There won’t be much for us!’
He thought he saw a Kangaroo
The worked a coffee-mill:
He looked again, and found it was
A Vegetable-Pill.
‘Were I to swallow this,’ he said,
‘I should be very ill!’
He thought he saw a Garden-Door
That opened with a key:
He looked again, and found it was
A Double rule of Three:
‘And all its mystery,’ he said,
‘Is clear as day to me!’
Lewis Carroll
Tags: poem