The Funny World

This is the funniest kind of world

     That ever you saw, by far;

For the things that are are not at all,

     And the things that aren’t, are.

You think you are eating ice cream, perhaps,

     And maybe you are, I vow,

But it may be the ice never saw a lake,

     And the cream never saw a cow.

You go to the museum to view’   

     The wonders from foreign lands;

And likely as not they were made at home

     By some of your neighbor’s hands.

The honey you eat never saw its bee,

     Your coffee came not from afar;

For the thing that are are not at all,

     And the things that aren’t, are.

Jan. 29, 1900