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").
The Cuckoo
Cuckoos lead Bohemian lives,They fail as husbands and as wives,Therefore they cynically disparageEverybody else's marriage.
© Ogden Nash
The Chipmunk
My friends all know that I am shy,But the chipmunk is twice and shy and I.He moves with flickering indecisionLike stripes across the television.He's..
© Ogden Nash
The Porcupine
Any hound a porcupine nudgesCan't be blamed for harboring grudges.I know one hound that laughed all winterAt a porcupine that sat on a splinter.
© Ogden Nash
So Does Everybody Else, Only Not So Much
O all ye exorcizers come and exorcize now, and ye clergymen draw nigh and clerge, For I wish to be purged of an urge. It is an irksome urge..
© Ogden Nash
The Parent
Children aren't happy with nothing to ignore,And that's what parents were created for.
© Ogden Nash
The Purist
I give you now Professor Twist,A conscientious scientist,Trustees exclaimed, "He never bungles!"And sent him off to distant jungles.Camped on a..
© Ogden Nash
The Romantic Age
This one is entering her teens,Ripe for sentimental scenes,Has picked a gangling unripe male,Sees herself in bridal veil,Presses lips and tosses..
© Ogden Nash
Oh To Be Odd!
HypochondriacsSpend the winter at the bottom of Florida and the summer on top ofthe Adirondriacs.You go to Paris and live on champagne wine and..
© Ogden Nash
The Termite
Some primal termite knocked on woodAnd tasted it, and found it good!And that is why your Cousin MayFell through the parlor floor today.
© Ogden Nash
The Guppy
Whales have calves,Cats have kittens,Bears have cubs,Bats have bittens,Swans have cygnets,Seals have puppies,But guppies just have little guppies.
© Ogden Nash
The Terrible People
People who have what they want are very fond of telling people who haven't what they want that they really don't want it,And I wish I could afford to..
© Ogden Nash
The Germ
A mighty creature is the germ,Though smaller than the pachyderm.His customary dwelling placeIs deep within the human race.His childish pride he often..
© Ogden Nash
No Doctor's Today, Thank You
They tell me that euphoria is the feeling of feeling wonderful,well, today I feel euphorian,Today I have the agility of a Greek god and the..
© Ogden Nash
Song Of The Open Road
I think that I shall never seeA billboard lovely as a treeIndeed, unless the billboards fallI'll never see a tree at all.
© Ogden Nash
Just Keep Quiet And Nobody Will Notice
There is one thing that ought to be taught in all the colleges,Which is that people ought to be taught not to go around always making apologies.I..
© Ogden Nash
The Camel
The camel has a single hump;The dromedary , two;Or else the other way around.I'm never sure. Are you?
© Ogden Nash
One From One Leaves Two
Higgledy piggledy, my black hen,She lays eggs for gentlemen.Gentlemen come every dayTo count what my black hen doth lay.If perchance she lays too..
© Ogden Nash
Tin Wedding Whistle
Though you know it anyhowListen to me, darling, now,Proving what I need not proveHow I know I love you, love.Near and far, near and far,I am happy..
© Ogden Nash
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