Short Poems

No seaweed in this bay —
and no seeing me either —
doesn't he know that?
forever coming here,
wearing out his fisherman feet

Submit to you —
could that be what you're saying?
the way ripples on the water
submit to an idling wind?

We send you home to a grave on Stone Tower Mountain;
Through the green green of pine and cypress,
mourners' carriages return
Among white clouds we've laid your bones — it is ended forever;
Only the mindless waters remain, flowing down to the world of men.

For the children who died in a smallpox epidemic:
When spring comes,
from every tree tip
the flowers will unfold,
but those fallen leaves
of autumn, the children,
will never come again

God is not onely mercifull, to call
Men to repent, but when He strikes withall.

Ye may simper, blush, and smile,
And perfume the aire a while:
But (sweet things) ye must be gone;
Fruit, ye know, is comming on:
Then, Ah! Then, where is your grace,
When as Cherries come in place?

With paste of almonds Syb her hands doth scour,
Then gives it to the children to devour.
In cream she bathes her thighs (more soft than silk),
Then to the poor she freely gives the milk.

When I thy singing next shall heare,
Ile wish I might turne all to eare,
To drink in Notes, and Numbers; such
As blessed soules cann't heare too much:
Then melted down, there let me lye
Entranc'd, and lost confusedly:
And by thy Musique strucken mute,
Die, and be turn'd into a Lute.

What is a Kisse? Why this, as some approve;
The sure sweet-Sement, Glue, and Lime of Love.

THE ONE LONE LIMERICK OF UNCLE SIDNEY'S

SOME credulous chroniclers tell us
Of a very tall youngster named Ellis.
Whose Pa said, " Ma-ri-er,
If Bubb grows much higher,
He'll have to be trained up a trellis. "