Classic Poem

A PRETTY girl, though sweet and mild,
By freak of nature winked and smiled:
No matter how she plied her will,
Sometimes the orb would not keep still:
At intervals she had to wink —
Save when she closed her eyes to think,
Or when asleep, or at her prayers —
The fit came on her unawares;
Her pretty eye kept blinking,
And she kept on a-winking.

When some loquacious table guest,
Who deemed his stories much the best,
Had told a thrilling escapade
In which himself the hero played,
He'd blush to see this maiden shy
Turn round and slowly wink her eye,
As if to say: " It's up your sleeve,
For that's a tale I can't believe. "
Her pretty eye still blinking,
While she kept on a-winking.

A handsome neighbor lost his wife;
She'd been a shrew most all her life.
The elder at the service said:
" Your heart is broken for the dead!
You 'd fain call back your better half! "
Just then was heard a smothered laugh,
While others trembled on the brink
To see the artless maiden wink;
Her pretty eye kept blinking,
And she kept on a-winking.

Before the altar as a bride,
Just when the knot was nearly tied,
On being asked if she 'd " obey "
She winked in such a knowing way,
It made the very modest " Yes! "
Seem little more than: " Well, I guess! "
It made the solemn parson smile
And turn his face away; meanwhile
Her pretty eye kept blinking,
And she kept on a-winking.