University of Virginia Library

The First Tapping

What's that tapping at night: tack, tack,
In some house in the street at the back?”

815

“O, 'tis a man who, when he has leisure,
Is making himself a coffin to measure.
He's so very tall that no carpenter
Will make it long enough, he's in fear.
His father's was shockingly short for his limb—
And it made a deep impression on him.”