PAINTING pictures Worth nothing at all In a dark cellar Sits Isaac Ball. Cobwebs on his butter, Herrings in bed; Stout matted in the hair Of his poor cracked head. There he paints Men's Thoughts -- Or so says he: For in that cellar It's too dark to see. Isaac knew great men, Poets and peers: Treated crown-princes To stouts and beers. Some still visit him; Pretend to buy His unpainted pictures -- The Lord knows why. His grey beard is woolly, Eyes brown and wild: Sticky things in his pocket For anybody's child. Some day he'll win fame, -- So Isaac boasts, Lecturing half the night To long-legged ghosts. Isaac was young once: At sixty-five Still seduces more girls Than any man alive. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CATTLE SHOW by CHRISTOPHER MURRAY GRIEVE THE NEED FOR MEN by JOSIAH GILBERT HOLLAND EYE-WITNESS by FREDERICK RIDGELY TORRENCE ON BUTLER'S MONUMENT [IN WESTMINSTER] by SAMUEL WESLEY SURNAMES by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD TWELVE SONNETS: 8 by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) SONG by FRANCOIS JOACHIM DE PIERRE DE BERNIS |