Home ⇒ 📌Thomas Moore ⇒ The Donkey and His Panniers
The Donkey and His Panniers
A Donkey, whose talent for burdens was wondrous,
So much that you’d swear he rejoic’d in a load,
One day had to jog under panniers so pond’rous,
That down the poor Donkey fell smack on the road!
His owners and drivers stood round in amaze
What! Neddy, the patient, the prosperous Neddy,
So easy to drive, through the dirtiest ways,
For every description of job-work so ready!
One driver (whom Ned might have “hail’d” as a “brother”)
Had just been proclaiming his Donkey’s renown
For vigour, for spirit, for one thing or another
When, lo, ‘mid his praises, the Donkey came down!
But, how to upraise him? – one shouts, t’other whistles,
While Jenky, the Conjurer, wisest of all,
Declar’d that an “over-production of thistles”
(Here Ned gave a stare) “was the cause of his fall.”
Another wise Solomon cries, as he passes
“There, let him alone, and the fit will soon cease;
The beast has been fighting with other jack-asses,
And this is his mode of “transition to peace”.”
Some look’d at his hoofs, and with learned grimaces,
Pronounc’d that too long without shoes he had gone
“Let the blacksmith provide him a sound metal basis
(The wise-acres said), and he’s sure to jog on.”
Meanwhile, the poor Neddy, in torture and fear,
Lay under his panniers, scarce able to groan;
And what was still dolefuller – lending an ear
To advisers, whose ears were a match for his own.
At length, a plain rustic, whose wit went so far
As to see others’ folly, roar’d out, as he pass’d
“Quick off with the panniers, all dolts as ye are,
Or, your prosperous Neddy will soon kick his last!”
(2 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5)Related poetry:
- A Fountain, a Bottle, a Donkey's Ears, and Some Books Old Davis owned a solid mica mountain In Dalton that would someday make his fortune. There’d been some Boston people out to see it: And experts said that deep down in the mountain The mica sheets were big as plate-glass windows. He’d like to take me there and show it to me. “I’ll tell you […]...
- Flee On Your Donkey Because there was no other place To flee to, I came back to the scene of the disordered senses, Came back last night at midnight, Arriving in the thick June night Without luggage or defenses, Giving up my car keys and my cash, Keeping only a pack of Salem cigarettes The way a child holds […]...
- The Donkey When forests walked and fishes flew And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood, Then, surely, I was born. With monstrous head and sickening bray And ears like errant wings – The devil’s walking parody Of all four-footed things: The battered outlaw of the earth Of ancient crooked will; Scourge, beat, […]...
- Goodtime Jesus Jesus got up one day a little later than usual. He had been dream- Ing so deep there was nothing left in his head. What was it? A nightmare, dead bodies walking all around him, eyes rolled Back, skin falling off. But he wasn’t afraid of that. It was a beau- Tiful day. How ’bout […]...
- To G. M. W. And G. F. W Whenas-(I love that “whenas” word- It shows I am a poet, too,) Q. Horace Flaccus gaily stirred The welkin with his tra-la-loo, He little thought one donkey’s back Would carry thus a double load- Father and son upon one jack, Galumphing down the Tibur Road. II Old is the tale-Aesop’s, I think- Of that famed […]...
- A MEMORY AT SIXTY They have vanished, the pop men with their varnished crates Of Tizer and dandy, American ice-cream soda and one percent shandy. The clunk of frothy quarts dumped on donkey-stoned doorsteps Is heard no more, nor the neighs of restless mares between the shafts. The shining brass of harness hangs in bar-rooms or droops From imitation […]...
- The Park The prosperous and beautiful To me seem not to wear The yoke of conscience masterful, Which galls me everywhere. I cannot shake off the god; On my neck he makes his seat; I look at my face in the glass, My eyes his eye-balls meet. Enchanters! enchantresses! Your gold makes you seem wise: The morning […]...
- Song of Karen, the Dancing Child (O little white feet of mine) Out in the storm and the rain you fly; (Red, red shoes the colour of wine) Can the children hear my cry? (O little white feet of mine) Never a child in the whole great town; (Red, red shoes the colour of wine) Lights out and the blinds pulled […]...
- Chorus Give away her gowns, Give away her shoes; She has no more use For her fragrant gowns; Take them all down, Blue, green, blue, Lilac, pink, blue, From their padded hangers; She will dance no more In her narrow shoes; Sweep her narrow shoes From the closet floor....
- Shoes when you’re young A pair of Female High-heeled shoes Just sitting Alone In the closet Can fire your Bones; When you’re old It’s just A pair of shoes Without Anybody In them And Just as Well....
- You Remember Ellen You remember Ellen, our hamlet’s pride, How meekly she bless’d her humble lot, When the stranger, William, had made her his bride, And love was the light of their lowly cot. Together they toil’d through winds and rains, Till William, at length, in sadness said, “We must seek our fortune on other plains;” Then, sighing, […]...
- Memorabilia of Last Week Monday, March 13, 1826 The Budget – quite charming and witty – no hearing, For plaudits and laughs, the good things that were in it; Great comfort to find, though the Speech isn’t cheering, That all its gay auditors were, every minute. What, still more prosperity! – mercy upon us, “This boy’ll be the death […]...
- Ye Old Mule Ye old mule that think yourself so fair, Leave off with craft your beauty to repair, For it is true, without any fable, No man setteth more by riding in your saddle. Too much travail so do your train appair. Ye old mule With false savour though you deceive th’air, Whoso taste you shall well […]...
- A Tree Song (A. D. 1200) Of all the trees that grow so fair, Old England to adorn, Greater are none beneath the Sun, Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn. Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs, (All of a Midsummer morn!) Surely we sing no little thing, In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn! Oak of the […]...
- The Legend of Evil I This is the sorrowful story Told when the twilight fails And the monkeys walk together Holding their neighbours’ tails: “Our fathers lived in the forest, Foolish people were they, They went down to the cornland To teach the farmers to play. “Our fathers frisked in the millet, Our fathers skipped in the wheat, Our […]...
- The Pleasure of Princes What pleasures have great princes? These: to know Themselves reputed mad with pride or power; To speak few words few words and short bring low This ancient house, that city with flame devour; To make old men, their father’s enemies, Drunk on the vintage of the former age; To have great painters show their mistresses […]...
- Dr. Siegfried Iseman I said when they handed me my diploma, I said to myself I will be good And wise and brave and helpful to others; I said I will carry the Christian creed Into the practice of medicine! Somehow the world and the other doctors Know what’s in your heart as soon as you make This […]...
- The Sunken Crown Nothing will hold him longer-let him go; Let him go down where others have gone down; Little he cares whether we smile or frown, Or if we know, or if we think we know. The call is on him for his overthrow, Say we; so let him rise, or let him drown. Poor fool! He […]...
- If I were dead ‘IF I were dead, you’d sometimes say, Poor Child!’ The dear lips quiver’d as they spake, And the tears brake From eyes which, not to grieve me, brightly smiled. Poor Child, poor Child! I seem to hear your laugh, your talk, your song. It is not true that Love will do no wrong. Poor Child! […]...
- Barmaid Though, if you ask her name, she says Elise, Being plain Elizabeth, e’en let it pass, And own that, if her aspirates take their ease, She ever makes a point, in washing glass, Handling the engine, turning taps for tots, And countering change, and scorning what men say, Of posing as a dove among the […]...
- 4. Song-In the Character of a Ruined Farmer THE SUN he is sunk in the west, All creatures retirиd to rest, While here I sit, all sore beset, With sorrow, grief, and woe: And it’s O, fickle Fortune, O! The prosperous man is asleep, Nor hears how the whirlwinds sweep; But Misery and I must watch The surly tempest blow: And it’s O, […]...
- Since Thou Hast Given Me This Good Hope, O God SINCE thou hast given me this good hope, O God, That while my footsteps tread the flowery sod And the great woods embower me, and white dawn And purple even sweetly lead me on From day to day, and night to night, O God, My life shall no wise miss the light of love; But […]...
- Shack Dye The white men played all sorts of jokes on me. They took big fish off my hook And put little ones on, while I was away Getting a stringer, and made me believe I hadn’t seen aright the fish I had caught. When Burr Robbins circus came to town They got the ring master to […]...
- Number 3 on the Docket The lawyer, are you? Well! I ain’t got nothin’ to say. Nothin’! I told the perlice I hadn’t nothin’. They know’d real well ’twas me. Ther warn’t no supposin’, Ketchin’ me in the woods as they did, An’ me in my house dress. Folks don’t walk miles an’ miles In the drifted snow, With no […]...
- Eat Your Heart Out I’ve come by, she says, to tell you That this is it. I’m not kidding, it’s Over. this is it. I sit on the couch watching her arrange Her long red hair before my bedroom Mirror. She pulls her hair up and Piles it on top of her head- She lets her eyes look at […]...
- 5.7 I don’t care if you are you and I am I. I am not some exotic flower. Whatever coat you have on, I will put it on to warm me… and the shoes however small… I will walk in them to balance our height difference. You don’t need to convert for me; I have already […]...
- The Time I've Lost In Wooing The time I’ve lost in wooing, In watching and pursuing The light that lies In woman’s eyes, Has been my heart’s undoing. Tho’ Wisdom oft has sought me, I scorn’d the lore she brought me, My only books Were women’s looks, And folly’s all they taught me. Her smile when Beauty granted, I hung with […]...
- 410. Epigram-Kirk and State Excisemen YE men of wit and wealth, why all this sneering ‘Gainst poor Excisemen? Give the cause a hearing: What are your Landlord’s rent-rolls?-Taxing ledgers! What Premiers?-What ev’n Monarchs?-Mighty Gaugers! Nay, what are Priests? (those seeming godly wise-men,) What are they, pray, but Spiritual Excisemen!...
- A man went before a strange God A man went before a strange God The God of many men, sadly wise. And the deity thundered loudly, Fat with rage, and puffing. “Kneel, mortal, and cringe And grovel and do homage To My Particularly Sublime Majesty.” The man fled. Then the man went to another God The God of his inner thoughts. And […]...
- Nicholas Nye Thistle and darnell and dock grew there, And a bush, in the corner, of may, On the orchard wall I used to sprawl In the blazing heat of the day; Half asleep and half awake, While the birds went twittering by, And nobody there my lone to share But Nicholas Nye. Nicholas Nye was lean […]...
- The Spirit lasts but in what mode The Spirit lasts but in what mode Below, the Body speaks, But as the Spirit furnishes Apart, it never talks The Music in the Violin Does not emerge alone But Arm in Arm with Touch, yet Touch Alone is not a Tune The Spirit lurks within the Flesh Like Tides within the Sea That make […]...
- The Romance Of Patrolman Casey There was a young patrolman who Had large but tender feet; They always hurt him badly when He walked upon his beat. (He always took them with him when He walked upon his beat.) His name was Patrick Casey and A sweetheart fair had he; Her face was full of freckles-but Her name was Kate […]...
- A Precise Woman A precise woman with a short haircut brings order To my thoughts and my dresser drawers, Moves feelings around like furniture Into a new arrangement. A woman whose body is cinched at the waist and firmly divided Into upper and lower, With weather-forecast eyes Of shatterproof glass. Even her cries of passion follow a certain […]...
- At A Bridal WHEN you paced forth, to wait maternity, A dream of other offspring held my mind, Compounded of us twain as Love designed; Rare forms, that corporate now will never be! Should I, too, wed as slave to Mode’s decree, And each thus found apart, of false desire, A stolid line, whom no high aims will […]...
- Elegy In The Classroom In the thin classroom, where your face Was noble and your words were all things, I find this boily creature in your place; Find you disarranged, squatting on the window sill, Irrefutably placed up there, Like a hunk of some big frog Watching us through the V Of your woolen legs. Even so, I must […]...
- The Wise Brothers FIRST VOICE So long adrift, so fast aground, What foam and ruin have we found – We, the Wise Brothers? Could heaven and earth be framed amiss, That we should land in fine like this- We, and no others? SECOND VOICE Convoyed by what accursèd thing Made we this evil reckoning – We, the Wise […]...
- ROLLICKING HANS HALLO there! A glass! Ha! the draught’s truly sweet! If for drink go my shoes, I shall still have my feet. A maiden and wine, With sweet music and song, I would they were mine, All life’s journey along! If I depart from this sad sphere, And leave a will behind me here, A suit […]...
- The Vulgar Little Lady “But, mamma, now, ” said Charlotte, “pray, don’t you believe That I’m better than Jenny, my nurse? Only see my red shoes, and the lace on my sleeve; Her clothes are a thousand times worse. “I ride in my coach, and have nothing to do, And the country folks stare at me so; And nobody […]...
- An Evangelist's Wife “Why am I not myself these many days, You ask? And have you nothing more to ask? I do you wrong? I do not hear your praise To God for giving you me to share your task? “Jealous-of Her? Because her cheeks are pink, And she has eyes? No, not if she had seven. If […]...
- Psalm of Those Who Go Forth Before Daylight THE POLICEMAN buys shoes slow and careful; The teamster buys gloves slow and careful; They take care of their feet and hands; They live on their feet and hands. The milkman never argues; He works alone and no one speaks to him; The city is asleep when he is on the job; He puts a […]...