A GENTLEMAN, about to make A trip at sea, was begged to take Commissions for a dozen friends: One wants a watch; another sends For wine, -- "a very special cask; And -- if it's not too much to ask -- Some choice cigars; a box will do; Or, while you're at it, purchase two." Another friend would like a pair Of boots, -- "They're so much cheaper there"; A lady friend would have him buy Some laces, -- "If they're not too high"; Another wants a box of gloves, -- "French kids, you know, are real loves!" Thus one wants this; another, that; A book, a bonnet, or a hat; Enough to make the moody man (So high their "small commissions" ran In tale and bulk) repent that he Had ever thought to cross the sea! Moreover, -- be it here remarked, -- Before the gentleman embarked, His friends, for fear he might forget Their little errands, plainly set Their wishes down in black and white; A sensible proceeding -- quite; But, as it happened, not a friend (With one exception) thought to send The ready money, and to say, "See, here's the cash you'll have to pay." The man embarks; sees Paris, Rome, And other cities; then comes home Well pleased with much that met his eye; But, having, somehow, failed to buy A single thing for any friend, Except the one who thought to send The wherewithal. Well, need I say That soon his neighbors came to pay Their greetings at his safe return, And charming health; and (also) learn About their little errands, -- what For each the traveler had got? "By Jove!" he said, "it makes me sad To think what wretched luck I had! For as at sea I sat one day Arranging in a proper way The papers you so kindly sent, A gale arose, and off they went Into the ocean; nor could I Remember aught you bade me buy." "But," grumbled one, "if that were so, How comes it, sir, you chanced to know What this man's errand was? for he Has got what he desired, we see." "Faith! so he has, -- beyond a doubt; And this is how it came about: His memorandum chanced to hold A certain sum of solid gold; And thus the paper by its weight Escaped the others' windy fate." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PSALM 121 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE EXILED by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY OLD KING COLE by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON SOLILOQUY; NOVEMBER 11, 1928 by N. R. A. BECKER ASPIRATIONS: 6 by MATHILDE BLIND A PRAYER FOR NORMA by NONA HATTON BROWN |