Thanksgiving5 An old myopic owl, 1 Perched high upon a tree; And through a looking-glass, Discovered he could see. But what he saw dismayed, Thus June began too soon; And so July displayed, The new solsticial moon. His erstwhile lonely state, He thought he must forego: These visions he'd relate, To hoi polloi below. But all below the tree, Were jovial common folk, And turkeys fat and free, For whom life was a joke. Loud "Gobbles" drowned his words, And little now remains; Just seek erostrate birds, And these cryptic quatrains... 8 "A tessellated robe, And hat without a bobble, Beckon the impious mob." The turkeys shouted, "Gobble!" "The Navigator sails, A Whitby fishing coble." "There is no cod," he wails. The turkeys shouted, "Gobble!" "The inexact shadow, Will have you seeing double, Just as a rose will glow." The turkeys shouted, "Gobble!" "A man with burnt off toes, To trial will but hobble; On legs, a head he grows." The turkeys shouted, "Gobble!" "The father on the bridge, A sanguine son will nobble; And Arthur bears the grudge." The turkeys shouted, "Gobble!" "A box of stones were found, While digging in the rubble; Now thistles arch around." The turkeys shouted, "Gobble!" "Trias you might make plain, Can issue abled trouble; Three leads might not restrain." The turkeys shouted, "Gobble!" "Now chariot knot God yanks, With pouring rain, wheels wobble; Let's all but one give thanks..." The turkeys swallowed: "Gobble!" |
1. The less somnolent reader will have noticed that, whereas the other twelve stanzas rhyme ABAB, the first follows the rhyming pattern ABCB. The problem, of course, is that owl simply cannot be made to rhyme with glass, no matter how many times the poet has renewed his licence.
Finding an answer to this conundrum might seem easy enough. The poet could, for example, simply select a C-rhyming word to replace the A-rhyming owl:
An old myopic ass,
Perched high upon a tree;
And through a looking-glass,
Discovered he could see.
This, however, is not the ideal solution it might at first appear to be. Asses are neither known for their myopia, nor noted for their wisdom—although, of course, they are both. Unlike the owl, the ass is not so foolish as to fly to the tops of tall trees from where the ground cannot be seen without resorting to the use of artificial aids.
We are making headway. We have discovered that not only is the owl extremely short-sighted but he is also more stupid than the donkey. Could it be that what he thinks of as a looking-glass is not a mirror or a telescope but actually something that is at one and the same time both quite different and quite the same? Might it be, I dare to suggest, that very device with which the fabled Michel de Nostradamus is reputed to have seen into the future...?
An old myopic owl,
Perched high upon a tree;
And in a scrying-bowl,
Discovered he could see.
The question now facing us is why did the Poet David choose to use looking-glass instead of scrying-bowl in the third line? It is a question which forever must remain without an answer, for could we know the mind of the Poet David, we would write such poems as his. The very best we can do is accept the suggestion of Mr Dodgson that the Poet David was making a veiled reference to Alice, a virtual acquaintance of his, whom many believe acted as his muse during the Poet's Priory of Sion period. —I.H.
Gay Noses (and other queer appendages)
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