‘There was an old priest in Peru
Who dreamt he’d converted a Jew:
He woke in the night
In a deuce of a fright,
And found it was perfectly true.’
Performances of that sort are, however, easy; and more merit attaches to such studies in unintelligibility as Bret Harte’s ‘Songs without Sense,’ of which the ‘Swiss Air’ is a good example:
‘I’m a gay tra, la, la,
With my fal, lal, la, la,
And my bright—
And my light—
Tra, la, le. [Repeat.]
Then laugh, ha, ha, ha,
And ring, ting, ling, ling,
And sing fal, la, la,
La, la, le.’ [Repeat.]
Probably, however, the poetry of pure nonsense has never been better represented than in these contemporary verses on the suitable topic of ‘Blue Moonshine’:
‘Ay! for ever and for ever
Whilst the love-lorn censers sweep,
Whilst the jasper winds dissever,
Amber-like, the crystal deep;
Shall the soul’s delirious slumber,
Sea-green vengeance of a kiss,
Teach despairing crags to number
Blue infinities of bliss.’
SINGLE-SPEECH HAMILTONS.
