Poetry Corner
(an occasional poem from my personal favourites)
[This one was a childhood favourite]
The King's Breakfast
by A.A. Milne
The King asked
The Queen, and
The Queen asked
The Dairymaid:
"Could we have some butter for
The Royal slice of bread?"
The Queen asked the Dairymaid,
The Dairymaid
Said, "Certainly,
I'll go and tell the cow
Now
Before she goes to bed."
The Dairymaid
She curtsied,
And went and told
The Alderney:
"Don't forget the butter for
The Royal slice of bread."
The Alderney
Said sleepily:
"You'd better tell
His Majesty
That many people nowadays
Like marmalade
Instead."
The Dairymaid
Said, "Fancy!"
And went to
Her Majesty.
She curtsied to the Queen, and
She turned a little red:
"Excuse me,
Your Majesty,
For taking of
The liberty,
But marmalade is tasty, if
It's very
Thickly
Spread."
The Queen said
"Oh!:
And went to
His Majesty:
"Talking of the butter for
The Royal slice of bread,
Many people
Think that
Marmalade
Is nicer.
Would you like to try a little
Marmalade
Instead?"
The King said,
"Bother!"
And then he said,
"Oh, deary me!"
The King sobbed, "Oh, deary me!"
And went back to bed.
"Nobody,"
He whimpered,
"Could call me
A fussy man;
I only want
A little bit
Of butter for
My bread!"
The Queen said,
"There, there!"
And went to
The Dairymaid.
The Dairymaid
Said, "There, there!"
And went to the shed.
The cow said,
"There, there!
I didn't really
Mean it;
Here's milk for his porringer,
And butter for his bread."
The Queen took
The butter
And brought it to
His Majesty;
The King said,
"Butter, eh?"
And bounced out of bed.
"Nobody," he said,
As he kissed her
Tenderly,
"Nobody," he said,
As he slid down the banisters,
"Nobody,
My darling,
Could call me
A fussy man -
BUT
I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!"
Previous:
The Listeners - Walter de la Mare
The Way Through the Woods - Rudyard Kipling
A Forsaken Garden - Algernon Charles Swinburne
The Rider at the Gate - John Masefield
Meeting at Night - Robert Browning
In Flanders Fields - John McCrae
The Isle - Percy Bysshe Shelley
Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 2 (Winter) - William Shakespeare
little tree - E.E. Cummings
The Shortest Day - Susan Cooper
My Last Duchess - Robert Browning
The Elfin Artist - Alfred Noyes
Cargoes - John Masefield
The Splendour Falls - Alfred, Lord Tennyson
The Donkey - G. K. Chesterton
All in green went my love riding - E.E. Cummings
Arethusa - Percy Bysshe Shelley
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