Poem: “The Height of the Ridiculous” by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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American Literature – American Poetry – Oliver Wendell Holmes – Poems by Oliver Wendell Holmes
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The Height of the Ridiculous

I wrote some lines once on a time
   In wondrous merry mood,
And though, as usual, men would say
   They were exceeding good.

They were so queer, so very queer,
   I laughed as I would die;
Albeit, in the general way,
   A sober man am I.

I called my servant, and he came;
   How kind it was of him
To mind a slender man like me,
   He of the mighty limb.

“These to the print,” I exclaimed,
   And, in my humorous way,
I added, (as a trifling jest,)
   “There’ll be the devil to pay.”

He took the paper, and I watched,
   And saw him peep within;
At the first line he read, his face
   Was all upon the grin.

He read the next, the grin grew broad,
   And shot from ear to ear;
He read the third; a chuckling noise
   I now began to hear.

The fourth; he broke into a roar;
   The fifth; his waistband split;
The sixth; he burst five buttons off,
   And tumbled in a fit.

Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye,
   I watched that wretched man,
And since, I never dare to write
   As funny as I can.

< < < The Flower of Liberty
The Katydid > > >

American Literature – American Poetry – Oliver Wendell Holmes – Poems by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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The Height of the Ridiculous

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