Father William
By Lewis Carrol
- 'You are old, Father William,' the young man said,
- 'And your hair has become very white;
- And yet you incessantly stand on your head--
- Do you think, at your age, it is right?'
- 'In my youth,' Father William replied to his son,
- 'I feared it might injure the brain;
- But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
- Why, I do it again and again.'
- 'You are old,' said the youth, 'as I mentioned before,
- And have grown most uncommonly fat;
- Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door--
- Pray, what is the reason of that?'
- 'In my youth,' said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
- 'I kept all my limbs very supple;
- By the use of this ointment--one shilling the box--
- Allow me to sell you a couple?'
- 'You are old,' said the youth, 'and your jaws are too weak
- For anything tougher than suet;
- Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak--
- Pray how did you manage to do it?'
- 'In my youth,' said his father, 'I took to the law,
- And argued each case with my wife;
- And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
- Has lasted the rest of my life.'
- 'You are old,' said the youth, 'one would hardly suppose
- That your eye was as steady as ever;
- Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose--
- What made you so awfully clever?'
- 'I have answered three questions, and that is enough,
- ' Said his father; 'don't give yourself airs!
- Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
- Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!'
From "Alice in Wonderland"