The Cockatrice

If you will listen to advice
You will avoid the Cockatrice--
A caution I need hardly say
Wholly superfluous to-day.
Yet had you lived when they were rife
Such warning might have saved your life.
To meet the Cockatrice's eye
Means certain death--and that is why
When I its features here portray
I make it look the other way.
O Cockatrice! were you so mean
What must the Henatrice have been!

Oliver Herford

Oliver Herford was born in England on December 2, 1860. He was a British-born American writer, artist, and illustrator, often referred to as 'The American Oscar Wilde' for his sharp wit and humorous works. Herford authored and illustrated many books for children and adults, contributing to magazines such as "The Criterion", "Life", and "Punch". He died on July 5, 1935, in France.

Oliver Herford

The Puppy

Oliver Herford, Simple Poetry

Saint Paul

Oliver Herford, Simple Poetry

A Penguin.

Oliver Herford, Simple Poetry

A Thought

Oliver Herford, Simple Poetry

English

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The Cock-Fighters Garland.[1]

Musehide his name of whom I sing,
Lest his surviving house thou bring
For his sake into scorn,
Nor speak the school from which he drew
The much or little that he knew,
Nor place where he was born.


That such a man once was, may seem
Worthy of record (if the theme
Perchance may credit win)
For proof to man, what man may prove,
If grace depart, and demons move
The source of guilt within.


This man (for since the howling wild
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If wealth can worth bestow.


In social talk and ready jest,
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The Precipitate Cock And The Unappreciated Pearl

A rooster once pursued a worm
That lingered not to brave him,
To see his wretched victim squirm
A pleasant thrill it gave him;
He summoned all his kith and kin,
They hastened up by legions,
With quaint, expressive gurgles in
Their oesophageal regions.

Just then a kind of glimmering
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It was a large and costly pearl,
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The cock assumed an air forlorn,
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A Fable.

A raven, while with glossy breast
Her new-laid eggs she fondly pressd,
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If quite exempted from the same),
Enjoyd at ease the genial day;
Twas April, as the bumpkins say,
The legislature calld it May.
But suddenly a wind, as high
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Shook the young leaves about her ears,
And filld her with a thousand fears,
Lest the rude blast should snap the bough,
And spread her golden hopes below.
But just at eve the blowing weather
And all her fears were hushd together:
And now, quoth poor unthinking Ralph.
Tis over, and the brood is safe;
(For ravens, though, as birds of omen,
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William Cowper

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By voyages in air,
With constant thought and care,
Much knowledge had a swallow gain'd,
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The slightest storms she well foreknew,
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Though such a bird as I
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You birds a caution need.
See you that waving hand?
It scatters on the land
What well may cause alarm.
'Twill grow to nets and snares,
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Great multitudes I fear,
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The Water-Cure. A Tale: In The Manner Of Prior.

"--portentaque Thessala rides?"
--Hor.
"--Thessalian portents do you flout?"
* *


CARDENIO'S fortunes ne'er miscarried
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What then? the Nymph no doubt was young?
She was: but yet--she had a tongue!
Most women have, you seem to say.
I grant it--in a different way.

'Twas not that organ half-divine,
With which, Dear Friend, your spouse or mine,
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The Fox & The Crow

Said sly Fox to the Crow with the cheese,
"Let me hear your sweet voice, now do please!"
And this Crow, being weak,
Cawed the bit from her beak--
"Music charms," said the Fox, "and here's cheese!"

Beware Of Flatterers

Walter Crane