AH! many a guest is coming Around my table to-day; The fish, the flesh, and the poultry Are smoking in goodly array; The invitations were special, They say they will surely appear. Hans, go look at the window; Time that the people were here! Girls are coming by dozens, Maidens whom even their foes Never have once detected Kissing beneath the rose; Such are the damsels invited; They said they would surely appear Hans, go look at the window; Time that the maidens were here! Plenty of fine young fellows Are coming to drink my health; Civil, and moral, and modest, Spite of their titles and wealth. The invitations were early; They say they will surely appear. Hans, go look at the window; Time that the younkers were here! Plenty of wives are coming, Such as the ugliest spouse Never has driven a moment To think of breaking their vows. How pleasant to see them together! They said they would surely appear. Hans, go look at the window; Time that the women were here! Husbands also are coming, Models of temperate lives; Men who are blind to beauty, Save in their excellent wives. All were politely invited, And say they will surely appear. Hans, go look at the window; Time that the fellows were here! Poets are also invited; The pleasantest ever were known; Who list to another's verses Cheerfully as to their own; What capital dining companions! They said they would surely appear. Hans, go look at the window; Time that the poets were here! Alas! with watching and waiting, The dinner is certainly spoiled; The viands are cold in the dishes, The roast and the baked and the boiled. Perhaps we were over-punctilious; Our feast is a failure, I fear. Hans, come away from the window; Never a one will be here! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SUPPLICATION by JOSEPH SEAMON COTTER JR. UNDERWOODS: BOOK 1: 8. TO MINNIE (WITH A HAND-GLASS) by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON THE PLACE OF THE DAMNED by JONATHAN SWIFT THE LONG AGO by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TAYLOR THE DESERTED LOVER CONSOLETH HIMSELF ... by THOMAS WYATT TIME'S REVENGE by AGATHIAS SCHOLASTICUS A LAMENT FOR PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN EPITAPH ON TWO YOUNG MEN NAMED LEITCH IN CROSSING THE RIVER SOUTHESK by JAMES BEATTIE |