How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear

How pleasant to know Mr. Lear, 

Who has written such volumes of stuff. 

Some think him ill-tempered and queer, 

But a few find him pleasant enough. 

His mind is concrete and fastidious, 

His nose is remarkably big; 

His visage is more or less hideous, 

His beard it resembles a wig. 

He has ears, and two eyes, and ten fingers, 

(Leastways if you reckon two thumbs); 

He used to be one of the singers, 

But now he is one of the dumbs. 

He sits in a beautiful parlour, 

With hundreds of books on the wall; 

He drinks a great deal of marsala, 

But never gets tipsy at all. 

He has many friends, laymen and clerical, 

Old Foss is the name of his cat; 

His body is perfectly spherical, 

He weareth a runcible hat. 

When he walks in waterproof white, 

The children run after him so! 

Calling out, "He's gone out in his night- 

Gown, that crazy old Englishman, oh!" 

He weeps by the side of the ocean, 

He weeps on the top of the hill; 

He purchases pancakes and lotion, 

And chocolate shrimps from the mill. 

He reads, but he does not speak, Spanish, 

He cannot abide ginger beer; 

Ere the days of his pilgrimage vanish, 

How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!

~ Edward Lear