Monday, April 11, 2011

Tuesday Poem: The Quangle Wangle Quee's Hat

What hoojoob madness is afoot?

The Quangle Wangle's Hat, below,
resides inside my skull at the moment;
and the Blue Baboon, and the Pobble who has no toes,
and the Dong with the luminouse nose and everyone/everything else
in this poem are in there clacking and jangling
and otherwise creating their own hullaballoo
resulting in a condition known as Bedlam of the Brain.

Without further ado:

The Quangle Wangle's Hat
--by Edward Lear


I

On the top of the Crumpetty Tree
The Quangle Wangle sat,
But his face you could not see,
On account of his Beaver Hat.
For his hat was a hundred and two feet wide,
With ribbons and bibbons on every side
And bells, and buttons, and loops, and lace,
So that nobody ever could see the face
Of the Quangle Wangle Quee.

II

The Quangle Wangle said
To himself on the Crumpetty Tree,--
'Jam; and jelly; and bread;
'Are the best food for me!
'But the longer I live on this Crumpetty Tree
'The plainer that ever it seems to me
'That very few people come this way
'And that life on the whole is far from gay!'
Said the Quangle Wangle Quee.

III

But there came to the Crumpetty Tree,
Mr. and Mrs. Canary;
And they said, -- 'Did you ever see
'Any spot so charmingly airy?
'May we build a nest on your lovely Hat?
Mr. Quangle Wangle, grant us that!
'O please let us come and build a nest
'Of whatever material suits you best,
'Mr. Quangle Wangle Quee!'

IV

And besides, to the Crumetty Tree
Came the Stork, the Duck, and the Owl;
The Snail, and the Bumble-Bee,
The Frog, and the Fimble Fowl;
(The Fimble Fowl, with a Corkscrew leg;)
And all of them said, -- We humbly beg,
'We may build our homes on your lovely Hat,--
'Mr. Quangle Wangle, grant us that!
'Mr. Quangle Wangle Quee!'

V

And the Golden Grouse came there,
And the Pobble who has no toes,--
And the small Olympian bear,--
And the Dong with a luminous nose.
And the Blue Babboon, who played the flute,--
And the Orient Calf from the Land of Tute,--
And the Attery Squash, and the Bisky Bat,--
All came and built on the lovely Hat
Of the Quangle Wangle Quee.

VI

And the Quangle Wangle said
To himself on the Crumpetty Tree,--
'When all these creatures move
'What a wonderful noise there'll be!'
And at night by the light of the Mulberry moon
They danced to the flute of the Blue Babboon,
On the broad green leaves of the Crumpetty Tree,
And all were as happy as happy could be,
With the Quangle Wangle Quee.

8 comments:

  1. Ah; Lear. A very fine painter too!

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  2. Lovely! I hadn't read this for years. Thankyou.

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  3. I "like."

    A poem to smile along to.:)

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  4. Cheers, that was fun and I love the picture.


    (There's nothing like Edward Lear for raising a smile, luckily the Pobble is happy without his toes and the Jumblies are currently off to sea in their sieve.)

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  5. makes me want a large pot of tea and a butter- and a jam -slathered crumpet. pronto. talk about comfort food/comfort poetry!

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  6. Oh to live in the hat of the Quangle Wangle Quee. If anyone knows where it is, please tell me and then we can run away together.

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  7. Smiles for this and Lear...we could travel there in a beautiful pea-green boat.

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  8. I'm with Susan on this one!

    Interesting about that photo, isn't it? The strange power of the subconscious mind....

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