When Wouter Van Twiller sailed over the sea, A shrewd store of wit in his noodle had he; And while he was sent as the Company's son, His eye was alert to enrich number one; It was his pocket foremost—that busy old filler,— Very aldermanlike was good Wouter Van Twiller! A fine strip of land if he chanced to divine He straightway bethought him "that farm shall be mine!" And worthily working this excellent plan, Erelong he annexed all Sapponikan; He pinched like a mercer, took toll like a miller; Truly aldermanlike was good Wouter Van Twiller! In Minetta Water, when noontides were blue, He trouted from Fifth through to Sixth Avenue; And when (it was frequent) he'd mornings to spare, He hunted the duck over Washington Square. "Times are ill," groaned the traders; "the times might be iller," Replied, with a wink, crafty Wouter Van Twiller. Gone Wouter Van Twiller, but not all his kind, At least by the knowing it thus is opined; While chiefly his own, he was every man's friend; His image we're likely to view to the end; You may see it today,—'tis our pride and our pillar,— The image of grasping old Wouter Van Twiller. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME by STEPHEN COLLINS FOSTER ACCORDING TO THE MIGHTY WORKING by THOMAS HARDY FAREWELL TO CYNTHIA by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS ODES: BOOK 1: ODE 7. ON THE USE OF POETRY by MARK AKENSIDE WRITTEN IN ZIMMERMAN'S SOLITUDE by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS EPISTOLA AD DAKYNS by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN A GENUINE DIALOGUE BETWEEN A GENTLEWOMAN AT DERBY AND HER MAID by JOHN BYROM |