122 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
122 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
#let poem(content) = {
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set par(first-line-indent: 0em)
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align(center, block[
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#set align(left)
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#set block(breakable: false)
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#emph(content)
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])
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}
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#poem[
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#block[
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“I'll tell thee everything I can; \
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#h(1em)There's little to relate. \
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I saw an aged aged man, \
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#h(1em)A-sitting on a gate. \
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‘Who are you, aged man?' I said, \
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#h(1em)‘and how is it you live?' \
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And his answer trickled through my head \
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Like water through a sieve.
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]
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#block[
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He said ‘I look for butterflies \
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#h(1em)That sleep among the wheat: \
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I make them into mutton-pies, \
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#h(1em)And sell them in the street. \
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I sell them unto men,' he said, \
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#h(1em)‘Who sail on stormy seas; \
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And that's the way I get my bread--- \
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#h(1em)A trifle, if you please.'
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]
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#block[
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But I was thinking of a plan \
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#h(1em)To dye one's whiskers green, \
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And always use so large a fan \
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#h(1em)That they could not be seen. \
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So, having no reply to give \
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#h(1em)To what the old man said, \
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I cried, ‘Come, tell me how you live!' \
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#h(1em)And thumped him on the head.
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]
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#block[
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His accents mild took up the tale: \
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#h(1em)He said ‘I go my ways, \
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And when I find a mountain-rill, \
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#h(1em)I set it in a blaze; \
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And thence they make a stuff they call \
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#h(1em)Rolands' Macassar Oil--- \
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Yet twopence-halfpenny is all \
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#h(1em)They give me for my toil.'
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]
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#block[
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But I was thinking of a way \
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#h(1em)To feed oneself on batter, \
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And so go on from day to day \
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#h(1em)Getting a little fatter. \
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I shook him well from side to side, \
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#h(1em)Until his face was blue: \
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‘Come, tell me how you live,' I cried, \
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#h(1em)‘And what it is you do!'
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]
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#block[
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He said ‘I hunt for haddocks' eyes \
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#h(1em)Among the heather bright, \
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And work them into waistcoat-buttons \
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#h(1em)In the silent night. \
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And these I do not sell for gold \
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#h(1em)Or coin of silvery shine \
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But for a copper halfpenny, \
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#h(1em)And that will purchase nine.
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]
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#block[
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‘I sometimes dig for buttered rolls, \
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#h(1em)Or set limed twigs for crabs; \
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I sometimes search the grassy knolls \
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#h(1em)For wheels of Hansom-cabs. \
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And that's the way' (he gave a wink) \
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#h(1em)‘By which I get my wealth--- \
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And very gladly will I drink \
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#h(1em)Your Honour's noble health.'
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]
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#block[
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I heard him then, for I had just \
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#h(1em)Completed my design \
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To keep the Menai bridge from rust \
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#h(1em)By boiling it in wine. \
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I thanked him much for telling me \
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#h(1em)The way he got his wealth, \
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But chiefly for his wish that he \
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#h(1em)Might drink my noble health.
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]
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#block[
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And now, if e'er by chance I put \
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#h(1em)My fingers into glue \
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Or madly squeeze a right-hand foot \
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#h(1em)Into a left-hand shoe, \
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Or if I drop upon my toe \
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#h(1em)A very heavy weight, \
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I weep, for it reminds me so, \
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Of that old man I used to know--- \
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Whose look was mild, whose speech was slow, \
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Whose hair was whiter than the snow, \
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Whose face was very like a crow, \
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With eyes, like cinders, all aglow, \
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Who seemed distracted with his woe, \
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Who rocked his body to and fro, \
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And muttered mumblingly and low, \
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As if his mouth were full of dough, \
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Who snorted like a buffalo--- \
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That summer evening, long ago, \
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#h(1em)A-sitting on a gate.”
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]
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]
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