Section: «Poems»
Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings:
artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.);
a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").
Very Like A Whale
One thing that literature would be greatly the better forWould be a more restricted employment by the authors of simile andmetaphor.Authors of all..
© Ogden Nash
Winter Complaint
Now when I have a coldI am careful with my cold,I consult a physicianAnd I do as I am told.I muffle up my torsoIn woolly woolly garb,And I quaff..
© Ogden Nash
Good-By Now Or Pardon My Gauntlet
Bring down the moon for genteel Janet;She's too refined for this gross planet.She wears garments and you wear clothes,You buy stockings, she..
© Ogden Nash
The Turtle
The turtle lives 'twixt plated decksWhich practically conceal its sex.I think it clever of the turtleIn such a fix to be so fertile.
© Ogden Nash
The Hippopotamus
Behold the hippopotamus!We laugh at how he looks to us,And yet in moments dank and grim,I wonder how we look to him.Peace, peace, thou..
© Ogden Nash
I Do, I Will, I Have
How wise I am to have instructed the butlerto instruct the first footman to instruct the secondfootman to instruct the doorman to order my carriage;I..
© Ogden Nash
The People Upstairs
The people upstairs all practise balletTheir living room is a bowling alleyTheir bedroom is full of conducted tours.Their radio is louder than..
© Ogden Nash
My Dream
This is my dream,It is my own dream,I dreamt it.I dreamt that my hair was kempt.Then I dreamt that my true love unkempt it.
© Ogden Nash
à Bas Ben Adhem
My fellow man I do not care for.I often ask me, What's he there for?The only answer I can findIs, Reproduction of his kind.If I'm supposed to swallow..
© Ogden Nash
Listen...
There is a knocking in the skull,An endless silent shoutOf something beating on a wall,And crying, “Let me out!”That solitary prisonerWill never hear..
© Ogden Nash
Look What You Did, Christopher!
In fourteen hundred and ninety-two,Someone sailed the ocean blue.Somebody borrowed the fare in SpainFor a business trip on the bounding main,And to..
© Ogden Nash
More About People
When people aren't asking questionsThey're making suggestionsAnd when they're not doing one of thoseThey're either looking over your shoulder or..
© Ogden Nash
Family Court
One would be in less dangerFrom the wiles of a strangerIf one's own kin and kithWere more fun to be with.
© Ogden Nash
The Dog
The truth I do not stretch or shoveWhen I state that the dog is full of love.I've also found, by actual test,A wet dog is the lovingest.
© Ogden Nash
Biological Reflection
A girl whose cheeks are covered with paintHas an advantage with me over one whose ain't.
© Ogden Nash
The Boy Who Laughed At Santa Claus
In Baltimore there lived a boy.He wasn't anybody's joy.Although his name was Jabez Dawes,His character was full of flaws.In school he never led his..
© Ogden Nash
The Duck
Behold the duck.It does not cluck.A cluck it lacks.It quacks.It is specially fondOf a puddle or pond.When it dines or sups,It bottoms ups.
© Ogden Nash
Two Dogs Have I
For years we've had a little dog,Last year we acquired a big dog;He wasn't big when we got him,He was littler than the dog we had.We thought our..
© Ogden Nash
Columbus
Once upon a time there was an Italian,And some people thought he was a rapscallion,But he wasn't offended,Because other people thought he was..
© Ogden Nash
Everybody Tells Me Everything
I find it very difficult to enthuseOver the current news.Just when you think that at least the outlook is so black that it can grow no blacker, it..
© Ogden Nash
Come On In, The Senility Is Fine
People live forever in Jacksonville and St. Petersburg and Tampa,But you don't have to live forever to become a grampa.The entrance requirements for..
© Ogden Nash
Old Men
People expect old men to die,They do not really mourn old men.Old men are different. People lookAt them with eyes that wonder when…People watch with..
© Ogden Nash
The Octopus
Tell me, O Octopus, I begsIs those things arms, or is they legs?I marvel at thee, Octopus;If I were thou, I'd call me Us.
© Ogden Nash