I WROTE some lines once on a time <br /> In wondrous merry mood, <br /> And thought, as usual, men would say <br /> They were exceeding good. <br /> <br /> They were so queer, so very queer, <br /> I laughed as I would die; <br /> Albeit, in the general way, <br /> A sober man am I. <br /> <br /> I called my servant, and he came; <br /> How kind it was of him <br /> To mind a slender man like me, <br /> He of the mighty limb. <br /> <br /> "These to the printer," I exclaimed, <br /> And, in my humorous way, <br /> I added, (as a trifling jest,) <br /> "There'll be the devil to pay." <br /> <br /> He took the paper, and I watched, <br /> And saw him peep within; <br /> At the first line he read, his face <br /> Was all upon the grin. <br /> <br /> He read the next; the grin grew broad, <br /> And shot from ear to ear; <br /> He read the third; a chuckling noise <br /> I now began to hear. <br /> <br /> The fourth; he broke into a roar; <br /> The fifth; his waistband split; <br /> The sixth; he burst five buttons off, <br /> And tumbled in a fit. <br /> <br /> Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye, <br /> I watched that wretched man, <br /> And since, I never dare to write <br /> As funny as I can.<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-height-of-the-ridiculous/
