Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Sat gossiping with Robert.
(She was really a raving beauty in her day.
With Mary Pickford curls in clouds and whirls.)
She was trying to think of something nice to say,
So she pointed to a page by her fellow star and sage,
And said: “I wish that I could write that way!”
SOME BALLOONS GROW ON TREES
For Betsy Richards
Some balloons grow on trees,
On rubber trees, indeed.
You plant old rubber-boots for seed.
Some balloons grow on trees.
If you want them red,
You pour red ink into the boots,
There in the balloon bed,
And blue ink if you want them blue.
But if you desire them green,
Just let it pass.
They will turn green to match the grass.
Some balloons grow on trees.
And if you do not spray them soon
With water-pots of hellebore
You will not have
One ripe balloon.
Mosquitoes will bite them in the night
Explode them like a thunder-storm
And give the town a fright.
