Robert Kirkland Kernighan Poems

I never was there ; but I Ve heard them declare
That, away over where the shamrocks are seen,
There 's beautiful isle, where it 's well worth your while
To see how the sile grows the freshest of green.
...

Ebenezer Orin he werz a friend of mine at school,
A mighty harnsome fellow an a very decent chap ;
The teacher uster crack us with the same old hickery rule,
And warm our epidermis with the same old cowhide
...

Out from the workshops, high and broad,
Bright as a jewel ? as smooth as rhyme ;
Launched from the wonderful docks of God,
My country floats on the crest of time.
...

When troubles are piled about your feet,
When shadows are falling across your way,
When your face is lashed by rain and sleet,
It 's hard to look joyous and bright and gay;
...

The mother of the Khan doth dwell
Two thousand wintry miles away ;
But O, she do n't forget, for he
Received by mail some socks, to-day ;
...

How many skillful housewives, in this pleasant world of
ours,
Lock the mince pie in the cupboard till it 's mouldy or it
sours?
Then it 's hurried on the table, and it 's forced upon your
plate,
When to eat it you 're unable, and its advent is too late.
...

Who, when the ages are all complete,
And a voice comes forth from the Judgment Seat
' Ye orphaned their children ye widowed their wives,
Ye emptied their homes and blasted their lives'-
Then who will answer to all of this?
...

He was nursed and cursed : he lied and died,
In the City of Damn-His-Soul ;
He was mothered and smothered in the slimy tide
Of the City of Damn-His-Soul,
...

They are makin preparations for the big fall fair,
And the farmer and his family are loaded up with care ;
They are rubbin down the geldin and the big brood
mare ;
And the three-year-old is frisky you ought to see him
...

Of all the things in nature that afflict the sons of men,
There is nothing that I know of beats the depredating

hen;
If you see a wild-eyed woman firing brick-bats from the

shed,

You can bet a hen has busted up her little flower bed.
...