 | A Flight of Fancies |  |
52
RUPERT RABBIT
Now, Geraldine and Lance and Nell,
If you have time, and want to hear
Of Rupert Rabbit, I can tell
The startling points of his career.
If you have time, and want to hear
Of Rupert Rabbit, I can tell
The startling points of his career.
Rupert was foolishly inclined
To think that tender brains suffice.
He rarely listened to his kind
Old father's excellent advice.
To think that tender brains suffice.
He rarely listened to his kind
Old father's excellent advice.
He used to edge away, as though
The lecture kept him from a walk,
And whisper to his cousin, “Joe,
What balderdash these parents talk!”
The lecture kept him from a walk,
And whisper to his cousin, “Joe,
What balderdash these parents talk!”
One evening, when he plainly showed,
By flapping ears and vacant look,
Less rabbit-reverence than he owed,
The father called his son to book:
By flapping ears and vacant look,
Less rabbit-reverence than he owed,
The father called his son to book:
“Before you hurry off to bite
Those carrots near the onion-bed
I wish to know if you are quite
Aware of all that I have said.
Those carrots near the onion-bed
I wish to know if you are quite
Aware of all that I have said.
53
Imagine how my heart is wrung,
And what your loving mother feels,
When any of our heedless young
Are carried pieward by the heels!
And what your loving mother feels,
When any of our heedless young
Are carried pieward by the heels!
Once more I tell you clearly what
Neglecting our example means:
A flash! a bang! a deadly shot!
Enamel saucepans! soup tureens!”
Neglecting our example means:
A flash! a bang! a deadly shot!
Enamel saucepans! soup tureens!”
“My dear old Dad,” his son replied,
“We youngsters have a better plan
(Extremely safe and simplified)
Than yours of circumventing Man.
“We youngsters have a better plan
(Extremely safe and simplified)
Than yours of circumventing Man.
I freely own that you are most
Attentive and affectionate;
But, Daddy, you have missed the post!
You're cobwebbed, moss-grown, out-of-date!
Attentive and affectionate;
But, Daddy, you have missed the post!
You're cobwebbed, moss-grown, out-of-date!
Be positive that if you wave
The younger School of Rabbits by
There's nothing known on earth to save
Your joints from hotting in a pie!”
The younger School of Rabbits by
There's nothing known on earth to save
Your joints from hotting in a pie!”
“How many a lad,” his father said,
“Who ought to be a model son,
Mistakes his unimportant head
For that of clever Solomon!
“Who ought to be a model son,
Mistakes his unimportant head
For that of clever Solomon!
54
Your mother, if she likes, may still
Exhort and plead and argufy,
But, Boaster, I have said my fill.
We shall not have you long. Goodbye!”
Exhort and plead and argufy,
But, Boaster, I have said my fill.
We shall not have you long. Goodbye!”
His father flourishes, my Dears,
But Rupert's hanging (run and look!)
With blinded eyes and deafened ears
In Grannie's larder from a hook!
But Rupert's hanging (run and look!)
With blinded eyes and deafened ears
In Grannie's larder from a hook!
| A Flight of Fancies | |