"You are old, father William," the young man said, <br />"And your hair has become very white; <br />And yet you incessantly stand on your head -- <br />Do you think, at your age, it is right? <br /> <br />"In my youth," father William replied to his son, <br />"I feared it might injure the brain; <br />But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none, <br />Why, I do it again and again." <br /> <br />"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before, <br />And you have grown most uncommonly fat; <br />Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door -- <br />Pray what is the reason for that?" <br /> <br />"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks, <br />"I kept all my limbs very supple <br />By the use of this ointment -- one shilling a box -- <br />Allow me to sell you a couple?" <br /> <br />"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak <br />For anything tougher than suet; <br />Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak -- <br />Pray, how did you mange to do it?" <br /> <br />"In my youth," said his fater, "I took to the law, <br />And argued each case with my wife; <br />And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw, <br />Has lasted the rest of my life." <br /> <br />"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose <br />That your eye was as steady as every; <br />Yet you balanced an eel on the tend of your nose -- <br />What made you so awfully clever?" <br /> <br />"I have answered three questions, and that is enough," <br />Said his father. "Don't give yourself airs! <br />Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff? <br /> <br />Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs.<br /><br />Lewis Carroll<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/you-are-old-father-william/
