Из полного собрания бессмыслиц (с параллельным текстом на английском языке). Эдвард Лир

sails were pink and grey;

      And off they sailed among the waves,

      Far, and far away,

      They sailed across the silent main,

      And reached the great Gromboolian plain;

      And there they play for evermore

      At battlecock and shuttledoor.

      Mr. and Mrs. Spikky Sparrow

I

      On a little piece of wood,

      Mr. Spikky Sparrow stood;

      Mrs. Sparrow sate close by,

      A-making of an insect pie,

      For her little children five,

      In the nest and all alive,

      Singing with a cheerful smile

      To amuse them all the while,

      Twikky wikky wikky wee,

      Wikky bikky twikky tee,

      Spikky bikky bee!

II

      Mrs. Spikky Sparrow said,

      “Spikky, Darling! in my head

      Many thoughts of trouble come,

      Like to flies upon a plum!

      All last night, among the trees,

      I heard you cough, I heard you sneeze;

      And, thought I, it’s come to that

      Because he does not wear a hat!

      Chippy wippy sikky tee!

      Bikky wikky tikky mee!

      Spikky chippy wee!

III

      Not that you are growing old,

      But the nights are growing cold.

      No one stays out all nights long

      Without a hat: I’m sure it’s wrong!”

      Mr. Spikky said, “How kind,

      Dear! you are, to speak your mind!

      All your life I wish you luck!

      You are! you are! a lovely duck!

      Witchy witchy witchy wee!

      Twitchy witchy witchy bee!

      Tikky tikky tee!

IV

      I was also sad, and thinking,

      When one day I saw you winking,

      And I heard you sniffle-snuffle,

      And I saw your feathers ruffle;

      To myself I sadly said,

      She’s neuralgia in er head!

      That dear head has nothing on it!

      Ought she not to wear a bonnet?

      Witchy kitchy kitchy wee?

      Spikky wikky mikky bee?

      Chippy wippy chee?

V

      Let us both fly up to town!

      There I’ll buy you such a gown!

      Which, completely in the fashion,

      You shall tie a sky-blue sash on.

      And a pair of slippers neat,

      To fit your darling little feet,

      So that you will look and feel

      Quite galloobious and genteel!

      Jikky wikky bikky see,

      Chicky bikky wikky bee,

      Twicky witchy wee!”

VI

      So they both to London went,

      Alighting on the Monument,

      Whence they flew down swiftly—pop,

      Into Moses’ wholesale shop;

      There they bought a hat and bonnet,

      And a gown with spots upon it,

      A satin sash of Cloxam blue,

      And a pair of slippers too.

      Zikky wikky mikky bee,

      Witchy witchy mitchy kee,

      Sikky tikky wee.

VII

      Then when so completely drest,

      Back they flew, and reached their nest.

      Their children cried, “O Ma and Pa!

      How truly beautiful you are!”

      Said they, “We trust that cold or pain

      We shall never feel again!

      While, perched on tree, or house, or steeple,

      We now shall look like other people.

      Witchy witchy witchy wee,

      Twikky mikky bikky bee,

      Zikky sikky tee.”

      The Pelican chorus

      King and Queen of the Pelicans we;

      No other Birds so grand we see!

      None but we have feet like fins!

      With lovely leathery throats and chins!

      Ploffskin, Pluffskin, Pelican jee!

      We think no Birds so happy as we!

      Plumpskin, Ploshkin, Pelican jill!

      We think so then, and we thought so still!

      We live on the Nile. The Nile we love.

      By night we sleep on the cliffs above;

      By day we fish, and at eve we stand

      On long bare islands of yellow sand.

      And when the sun sinks slowly down

      And the great rock walls grow dark and brown,

      Where the purple river rolls fast and dim

      And the Ivory Ibis starlike skim,

      Wing to wing we dance around,—

      Opening our mouths as Pelicans ought,

      And this is the song we nightly snort;—

      Ploffskin, Pluffskin, Pelican jee!

      We think no Birds so happy as we!

      Plumpskin, Ploshkin, Pelican jill,—

      We think so then, and we thought so still!

      Last year came out our Daughter, Dell;

      And all the Birds received her well.

      To do her honour, a feast we made

      For every bird that can swim or wade.

      Herons and Gulls, and Cormorants black,

      Cranes, and Flamingoes with scarlet back,

      Plovers and Storks, and Geese in clouds,

      Swans and Dilberry Ducks in crowds.

      Thousands of Birds in wondrous flight!

      They ate and drank and danced all night,

      And echoing back from the rocks you heard

      Multitude-echoes from Bird and Bird,—

      Ploffskin, Pluffskin, Pelican jee!

      We think no Birds so happy as we!

      Plumpskin, Ploshkin, Pelican jill,

      We think so then, and we thought so still!

      Yes, they came; and among the rest,

      The King