This year is the bicentenary of Edward Lear’s birth. He was an author and artist, responsible for The Owl And The Pussycat and the popularisation of limericks. His nonsense inspired me to become the person that I am, so in honour of that wonderfully silly man I thought I’d inflict some homespun limericks upon you all…

My uncle is blessed with a nose
That’s as crimson as any a rose
If you wait until night
And then switch off the light
You would swear, in the dark, that it glows

Have you heard of the cat on the mat
He was lazy and stubborn and fat
When a mouse walked on by
He would open one eye
And say “Sir, I refuse to touch that!”

Young Jim would eat nothing but eggs
Which he pickled in large wooden kegs
When each barrel was done
He would jump in for fun
And the juices stripped hairs off his legs

A buddhist was studying dharma
And assessing his level of karma
With a shake of his head
He exclaimed “When I’m dead
I am sure I’ll come back as a llama”

On a sunny day sometime in June
I decided to go to the moon
So I made me a rocket
From the foil in my pocket
And I’m sure that I’ll get there real soon

Thanks for reading,