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Amusing Poetry

Shirley Brooks

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Here's a sample from this volume of poetry.

Christmas comes! He comes, he comes,
Usher'd with a rain of plums;
Hollies in the windows greet him;
Schools come driving post to meet him,
Gifts precede him, bills proclaim him,
Every mouth delights to name him;
Wet, and cold, and wind, and dark
Make him but the warmer mark;
And yet he comes not one embodied,
Universal's the blithe godhead,
And in every festal house
Presence hath ubiquitous.
Curtains, those snug room-enfolders,
Hang upon his million shoulders;
And he has a million eyes

Of fire, and eats a million pies,
And is very merry and wise;
Very wise and very merry,
And loves a kiss beneath the berry.

Then full many a shape hath he,
All in said ubiquity:

Now is he a green array,
And now an " eve" and now a "day;"
Now he's town gone out of town,
And now a feast in civic gown,
And now the pantomime and clown
"With a crack upon the crown
And all sorts of tumbles down;
And then he's music in the night,
And the money gotten by't;
He's a man that can't write verses,
Bringing some to ope your purses;
He's a turkey, he's a goose,
He's oranges unfit for use,
He's a kiss that loves to grow
Underneath the mistletoe,
And he's forfeits, cards, and wassails,
And a king and queen with vassals,
All the " quizzes" of the time
Drawn and quarter'd with a rhyme;
And then for their revival's sake,
Lo! he's an enormous cake,
With a sugar on the top
Seen before in many a shop,
Where the boys could gaze for ever,
They think the cake so very clever.
He's a dinner where you see
Every body's family;
Beef and pudding, and mince-pies,
And little boys with laughing eyes,
Whom their seniors ask arch questions,
Feigning fears of indigestions,
(As if they, forsooth, the old ones
Hadn't privately tenfold ones!)
lie's a dinner, and a fire,
Heap'd beyond your heart's desire,
Heap'd with logs, and baked with coal.",
Till it roasts your very souls,
And your cheek the fire outside,
And you all push back your chairs,
And the mirth becomes too great,
And you all sit up too late,
Nodding all with too much head,
And so go off to too much bed.

Here is a partial list of the poems found in this volume.

Christmas ... 1
The Philosopher and her Father. ... 3
The Little Seaman . . 6
The Legend of the Heart of Bruce . . .10
Old Songs ... 16
The Newcastle Apothecary 18
Count Everhard . .. 20
The Song of the Brave Man .... 22
The Puff Direct . . 26
The Village Stile . . 28
The Glove ... 29
The Well of St. Keyne . 31
The Well of Wisdom . 33
The Muffin-man . . 35
Little Roland ... 37
The Marriage Bells. . 43
Alice Brand . . .46
Song of the Owl . . 50
The Indian's Revenge . 52
Mary Stuart's Farewell . 54
Christmas in War-Time . 56
The Wolf and the Dog . 59
The Fisherman's Wife . 61
Tom Tackle . . .63
Edwin .... 65
Joan . . . .72
The Diver ... 73
The Happiest Land . . 79
Brown and Jones . . 80
The Toy of the Giant's
China . . . .81
Prince Eugene . .

248 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 31, 2013