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Sat 15 Jan, 2005 06:46 pm
Can anyone give me a clue to the rest of this light verse? The last three lines are:
Perhaps the Vicar's mother will not call.
I see a little cloud, all pink and gray.
Perhaps I will not kill myself today.
I cannot remember the author, try as I may; I think it may have been a woman. The poem itself is short; perhaps 10 lines or less.
black humor, but a well-crafted bit of formal light verse.
"Perhaps the Vicar's mother will not call"
Further tip: I think it's probably in rondel or rondeau form.
This is somewhat like the one you are thinking of:
A BALLADE OF SUICIDE
The gallows in my garden, people say,
Is new and neat and adequately tall.
I tie the noose on in a knowing way
As one that knots his necktie for a ball;
But just as all the neighbors - on the wall -
Are drawing a long breath to shout "Hurray!"
The strangest whim has seized me . . . After all
I think I will not hang myself to-day.
To-morrow is the time I get my pay -
My uncle's sword is hanging in the hall -
I see a little cloud all pink and gray -
Perhaps the rector's mother will not call -
I fancy that I heard from Mr. Gall
That mushrooms could be cooked another way -
I never read the works of Juvenal -
I think I will not hang myself to-day.
The world will have another washing day;
The decadents decay; the pedants pall;
And H. G. Wells has found that children play,
And Bernard Shaw discovered that they squall;
Rationalists are growing rational -
And through thick woods one finds a stream astray,
So secret that the very sky seems small -
I think I will not hang myself to-day.
ENVOI
Prince, I can hear the trumpet of Germinal,
The tumbrils toiling up the terrible way;
Even to-day your royal head may fall -
I think I will not hang myself to-day.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton [1874-1936]
GK Chesterton i believe...
A Ballade of Suicide
G.K. Chesterton
The gallows in my garden, people say,
Is new and neat and adequately tall;
I tie the noose on in a knowing way
As one that knots his necktie for a ball;
But just as all the neighbours on the wall
Are drawing a long breath to shout "Hurray!"
The strangest whim has seized me. . . After all
I think I will not hang myself to-day.
To-morrow is the time I get my pay
My uncle's sword is hanging in the hall
I see a little cloud all pink and grey
Perhaps the rector's mother will NOT call
I fancy that I heard from Mr. Gall
That mushrooms could be cooked another way
I never read the works of Juvenal
I think I will not hang myself to-day.
The world will have another washing-day;
The decadents decay; the pedants pall;
And H.G. Wells has found that children play,
And Bernard Shaw discovered that they squall;
Rationalists are growing rational
And through thick woods one finds a stream astray,
So secret that the very sky seems small
I think I will not hang myself to-day.
Perhpas the Vicar's mother
That's it! I'd forgotten it was a ballade. And I should have remembered Chesterton.
Thanks very much.