ONE day, mamma said: "Conrad dear, I must go out and leave you here. But mind now, Conrad, what I say, Don't suck your thumb while I'm away. The great tall tailor always comes To little boys that suck their thumbs; And ere they dream what he's about, He takes his great sharp scissors out And cuts their thumbs clean off,—and then, You know, they never grow again." Mamma had scarcely turned her back, The thumb was in, alack! alack! The door flew open, in he ran, The great, long, red-legged scissor-man. Oh, children, see! the tailor's come And caught our little Suck-a Thumb. Snip! snap! snip! the scissors go; And Conrad cries out— "Oh! oh! oh!" Snip! snap! snip! They go so fast, That both his thumbs are off at last. Mamma comes home; there Conrad stands, And looks quite sad, and shows his hands;— "Ah!" said mamma, "I knew he'd come To naughty little Suck-a-Thumb." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LITTLE BOY FOUND, FR. SONGS OF INNOCENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE ON ENGLISH MONSIEUR by BEN JONSON SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: PETIT THE POET by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE LITTLE GHOST by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY SOUND THE LOUD TIMBREL; MIRIAM'S SONG by THOMAS MOORE THE WIND by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON |