English Poetry. Lewis Carroll. A Game of Fives. Льюис Кэрролл.

Lewis Carroll (Льюис Кэрролл)

A Game of Fives

Five little girls, of Five, Four, Three, Two, One:
Rolling on the hearthrug, full of tricks and fun.

Five rosy girls, in years from Ten to Six:
Sitting down to lessons - no more time for tricks.

Five growing girls, from Fifteen to Eleven:
Music, Drawing, Languages, and food enough for seven!

Five winsome girls, from Twenty to Sixteen:
Each young man that calls, I say "Now tell me which you MEAN!"

Five dashing girls, the youngest Twenty-one:
But, if nobody proposes, what is there to be done?

Five showy girls - but Thirty is an age
When girls may be ENGAGING, but they somehow don't ENGAGE.

Five dressy girls, of Thirty-one or more:
So gracious to the shy young men they snubbed so much before!


Five PASSE girls - Their age? Well, never mind!
We jog along together, like the rest of human kind:
But the quondam "careless bachelor" begins to think he knows
The answer to that ancient problem "how the money goes"! 

Lewis Carroll’s other poems:

1. Выборы в Совет Оксфордского университета • The Elections to the Hebdomadal Council
2. Пилигримлянин • The Wandering Burgess
3. Он прав, миляга! • What Tottles Meant
4. Покинутые парки • The Deserted Parks
5. Охота на Снарка. Трали-Врали в Восьми Финтах. Финт Шестой. Сон Балабола • The Hunting of the Snark. Fit the Sixth. The Barrister’s Dream

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