Lilliput Levee :: :: University of Virginia Library

I once saw an angel on a white cloud;
He looked at me, and I spoke out loud;
The moment I spoke, he went away,
And the cloud broke up into spots of grey.

Angel, angel, on a white cloud!
What was it I meant when I spoke out loud?
Was it a something, or was it a naught?
It seemed to be spoken before it was thought!
It fled like a bird that can never be caught!

I once heard a bell ring, sweet and loud;
It rang overhead up in a white cloud;
It rang up and down, it rang all the world round;
It told me the word I had lost should be found
At the place where the blue sky touches the ground!

There once was a giant, the giant was tall,
He stood on a steeple, he threw up a ball;
The steeple was lofty; the ball went so high,
That it never came down again out of the sky!

Here comes Ellen, majestic miss!
You look so wise, madam, tell me this:—
What was the word that I spoke out loud
To the angel I saw, up on a white cloud?
How long may the very tall giant complain,
Before he gets back his ball again?
Who is it rings the wonderful bell,
Up in the clouds, you majestic Nell?

It's open your eyes, and blink three times;
It's riddle-my-rede, and repeat the rhymes;
The path of the ball; the heavenly chimes;
And the word that I try for a million times!

Oh, Little Majesty, if we had wings,
We would discover these wonderful things!
A raven to pluck, and a peacock's feather—
Let us make wings, and be off together!