Page 59 - Poetry-Whimsy

A Wizard once went up in a balloon,
And with him took his wicked old baboon.
And as he sailed unto himself did croon
A mocking parody on “Bonnie Doon.”
‘T was on the one and twentieth night in June,
Above him shone the splendid summer moon,
Nearly as bright as though ‘t were afternoon
The difference twixt a white and octoroon,
With here and there a shadow of quadroon
(This simile seems not in opportune).
The wizard chanted now a mystic rune
More like an incantation than a tune.
Then faster onward swept this strange balloon
Until they reached the Brockenberg. Here soon
They spied their king. His face was like a prune,
Withered and blue; his feet had crimson shoon;
His cloak was scarlet lined with dark maroon,
And edged with fiery gold and bright galloon;
His eyes resembled those of a raccoon;
He spoke a language not unlike Walloon,
And leered and swaggered like a macaroon
Who saunters up and down some gay saloon,
A wild and lawless carnival buffoon,
Yet fierce as any bloody bold dragoon.
H is purse was filled with many a gold doubloon,
And in his hand he bore a large harpoon.
He had a tail and horns. It were a boon
To have with one a very lengthy spoon,
If dining with him. (Let us not impugn
The old proverb.) Then, as though he were Haroun
Himself, he beckoned to the weird balloon,
Which about midnight took him in. And soon,
Speeding o’er wave and rock and sandy dune,
The Devil raised a terrible typhoon,
Enough to make the soul and senses swoon,
And laughed along the air, as when a loon
Laughs o’er some dark and pestilent lagoon.
Then sped they to the land of the Tycoon,
Where they all lit, and danced a rigadoon!

— C.P.C. (Century Magazine, 1889)

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