I have a fairy by my side
Which says I must not sleep,
When once in pain I loudly cried
It said "You must not weep"
If, full of mirth, I smile and grin,
It says "You must not laugh"
When once I wished to drink some gin
It said "You must not quaff".
When once a meal I wished to taste
It said "You must not bite"
When to the wars I went in haste
It said "You must not fight".
"What may I do?" at length I cried,
Tired of the painful task.
The fairy quietly replied,
And said "You must not ask".
Moral: "You mustn't."
by Lewis Carroll
1 comment:
I love Lewis Carroll as an author and a poet. He is definitely one of the best writers of the 19th Century his ability to survey messages through his writing astounds me especially through his simplistic child imagery. In this poem, he hits an important Human fatality, our needs vs. our wants, and our ability to control both. Giving us an image of a fairy telling us what we should and should not do. We all have those images of angels, or inner speakings telling us what to and not to do.
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