Poems by Lewis Carroll

All Poems Original Poems Translations

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Phantasmagoria Canto I (The Trystyng )

ONE winter night, at half-past nine,

Cold, tired, and cross, and muddy,

I had come home, too late to dine,

And supper, with cigars and wine,

Was waiting in the study.

There was a strangeness in the room,

And Something white and wavy

Was standing near me in the gloom -

by Lewis Carroll

The Pig's Tale

Little Birds are dining

Warily and well,

Hid in mossy cell: Hid, I say, by waiters

Gorgeous in their gaiters-

I've a Tale to tell.

Little Birds are feeding

Justices with jam,

Rich in frizzled ham:

by Lewis Carroll

Another Acrostic ( In the style of Father William )

"Are you deaf, Father William!" the young man said,

"Did you hear what I told you just now?

"Excuse me for shouting! Don't waggle your head

"Like a blundering, sleepy old cow!

"A little maid dwelling in Wallington Town,

"Is my friend, so I beg to remark:

"Do you think she'd be pleased if a book were sent down

"Entitled 'The Hunt of the Snark?'"

by Lewis Carroll

She's All My Fancy Painted Him

She's all my fancy painted him

(I make no idle boast);

If he or you had lost a limb,

Which would have suffered most?

He said that you had been to her,

And seen me here before;

But, in another character,

She was the same of yore.

by Lewis Carroll

Acrostic

Little maidens, when you look

On this little story-book,

Reading with attentive eye

Its enticing history,

Never think that hours of play

Are your only HOLIDAY,

And that in a HOUSE of joy

Lessons serve but to annoy:

by Lewis Carroll

Punctuality

Man Naturally loves delay,

And to procrastinate;

Business put off from day to day

Is always done too late.

Let every hour be in its place

Firm fixed, nor loosely shift,

And well enjoy the vacant space,

As though a birthday gift.

by Lewis Carroll

"A boat beneath a sunny sky"

A boat beneath a sunny sky,

Lingering onward dreamily

In an evening of July —

Children three that nestle near,

Eager eye and willing ear,

Pleased a simple tale to hear —

Long has paled that sunny sky:

Echoes fade and memories die:

by Lewis Carroll

Jabberwocky

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

'Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!'

by Lewis Carroll

A Valentine

And cannot pleasures, while they last,

Be actual unless, when past,

They leave us shuddering and aghast,

With anguish smarting?

And cannot friends be firm and fast,

And yet bear parting?

And must I then, at Friendship's

call,Calmly resign the little all(Trifling, I grant, it is and small)I have of gladness,And lend my being to the thrallOf gloom and sadness? And think you that I should be dumb,And full DOLORUM OMNIUM,Excepting when YOU choose to comeAnd share my dinner?At other times be sour and glumAnd daily thinner? Must he then only live to weep,Who'd prove his friendship true and deepBy day a lonely shadow creep,At night-time languish,Oft raising in his broken sleepThe moan of anguish? The lover, if for certain daysHis fair one be denied his gaze,Sinks not in grief and wild amaze,But, wiser wooer,He spends the time in writing lays,And posts them to her. And if the verse flow free and fast,Till even the poet is aghast,A touching Valentine at lastThe post shall carry,When thirteen days are gone and pastOf February. Farewell, dear friend, and when we meet,In desert waste or crowded street,Perhaps before this week shall fleet,Perhaps to-morrow.I trust to find YOUR heart the seatOf wasting sorrow.Sent to a friend who had complained that I was glad enough to see him when he came, but didn't seem to miss him if he stayed away