I
Mr. and Mrs. Discobbolos
Lived on the top of the wall,
For twenty years, a month and a day,
Till their hair had grown all pearly gray,
And their teeth began to fall.
They never were ill, or at all dejected,
By all admired, and by some respected,
Till Mrs. Discobbolos said,
'Oh! W! X! Y! Z!
'It has just come into my head,
'We have no more room at all--
'Darling Mr. Discobbolos
II
'Look at our six fine boys!
'And our six sweet girls so fair!
'Upon this wall they have all been born,
'And not one of the twelve has happened to fall
'Through my maternal care!
'Surely they should not pass their lives
'Without any chance of husbands or wives!'
And Mrs. Discobbolos said,
'Oh! W! X! Y! Z!
'Did it never come into your head
'That our lives must be lived elsewhere,
'Dearest Mr. Discobbolos?
III
'They have never been at a ball,
'Nor have ever seen a bazaar!
'Nor have heard folks say in a tone all hearty
"What loves of girls (at a garden party)
Those Misses Discobbolos are!"
'Morning and night it drives me wild
'To think of the fate of each darling child!'
But Mr. Discobbolos said,
'Oh! W! X! Y! Z!
'What has come to your fiddledum head!
'What a runcible goose you are!
'Octopod Mrs. Discobbolos!'
IV
Suddenly Mr. Discobbolos
Slid from the top of the wall;
And beneath it he dug a dreadful trench,
And fille it with dynamite, gunpowder gench,
And aloud he began to call--
'Let the wild bee sing,
'And the blue bird hum!
'For the end of our lives has certainly come!'
And Mrs. Discobbolos said,
'Oh! W! X! Y! Z!
'We shall presently all be dead,
'On this ancient runcible wall,
'Terrible Mr. Discobbolos!'
V
Pensively, Mr. Discobbolos
Sat with his back to the wall;
He lighted a match, and fired the train,
And the mortified mountain echoed again
To the sound of an awful fall!
And all the Discobbolos family flew
In thousands of bits to the sky so blue,
And no one was left to have said,
'Oh! W! X! Y! Z!
'Has it come into anyone's head
'That the end has happened to all
'Of the whole of the Clan Discobbolos?'