Classic Poem

RESTORED ROMAUNT

IT was a Jolly Miller lived on the River Dee;
He looked upon his piller, and there he found a flea:
" O Mr. Flea! you have bit me,
And you shall shorely die! "
So he scrunched his bones ag'inst the stones —
And there he let him lie!

'Twas then the Jolly Miller he laughed and told his wife,
And she laughed fit to kill her, and dropped her carving knife! —
" O Mr. Flea! " " Ho-ho! " " Tee-hee! "
They both laughed fit to kill,
Until the sound did almost drownd
The rumble of the mill!

" Laugh on, my Jolly Miller! and Missus Miller, too! —
But there's a weeping-willer will soon wave over you! "
The voice was all so awful small —
So very small and slim! —
He durst' infer that it was her,
Ner her infer 'twas him!

That night the Jolly Miller, says he, " It's, Wifey dear,
That cat o' yourn, I'd kill her! — her actions is so queer, —
She's rubbin' 'g'inst the grindstonelegs,
And yowlin' at the sky —
And I 'low the moon hain't greener
Than the yaller of her eye! "

And as the Jolly Miller went chuckleun to bed,
Was Somepin' jerked his piller from underneath his head!
" O Wife, " says he, on-easi-lee,
" Fetch here that lantern there! "
But Somepin' moans in thunder-tones,
" You tetch it ef you dare! "

'Twas then the Jolly Miller he trimbled and he quailed —
And his wife choked until her breath come back, 'n' she wailed!
And " Oh! " cried she, " it is the Flea ,
All white and pale and wann —
He's got you in his clutches, and
He's bigger than a man! "

" Ho! ho! my Jolly Miller " (fer 'twas the Flea, fer shore!),
" I reckon you'll not rack my bones ner scrunch 'em any more! "
Then the Flea-Ghost he grabbed him clos't,
With many a ghastly smile,
And from the door-step stooped and hopped
About four hunderd mile!