A LOVE STORY: THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT – EDWARD LEAR

The Owl and the Pussycat

by Edward Lear

I

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
‘O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!’

II

Pussy said to the Owl, ‘You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?’
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

III

‘Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?’ Said the Piggy, ‘I will.’
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon



Categories: Humor, Literature, poem, Poetry

Tags: , , , , ,

25 replies

  1. Was going to ask about the runcible spoon but you’ve already answered that. Love those childhood poems.
    Leslie

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  2. This was always one of my favorites!

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  3. One of my favorites

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    • He gave us a vision of fantasy, as did Lewis Carroll. That hilarious craziness of things that become like people and people who sometimes become things. These really WERE my first fantasy stories.

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  4. Go to YouTube and look for this sung by Elton Hayes. 🙂

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  5. That does indeed take me back to my childhood along with the likes of the Jabberwock and of Hilaire Belloc’s Cautionary Tales for Children and Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary. 🙂

    love.

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  6. Very good poem and awesome picture! Good stuff! You’ve got my follow. Check out my comedy blog and give it a follow if you like it!

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  7. Reblogged this on Espiritu en Fuego/A Fiery Spirit and commented:
    Great Poem for Caturday. Made me think of this Tom Jones song. When I was a young girl watching his TV show I thought that he was one of the sexist men alive!! LOL!!

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  8. Great Poem for Caturday. Made me think of this Tom Jones song. When I was a young girl watching his TV show I thought that he was one of the sexist men alive!! LOL!!

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  9. Ah, I can hear the melody now. I didn’t remember some of the words. Thanks for sharing an old rhyme song.

    Liked by 1 person