When the gardener wakes to the dawn
He thinks not of the night that is gone
But of weeding today
In the usual way
And the joy of mowing a lawn
-Sir Henry de Tunahuna
When the Sun gave way to the Moon
The cow tripped over the spoon
The cat did piddle
On the runcible fiddle
And the dish was cleaned by a coon
-Sir Henry de Tunahuna
And now, a blast from the past:
There was a Young Person of Smyrna
Whose grandmother threatened to burn her;
But she seized on the cat,
and said, “Granny, burn that!
You incongruous old woman of Smyrna!”
-Edward Lear, whoever he is
And finally, without further ado, the Foolish Times proudly presents the oldest limerick on record:
Sit vitiorum meorum evacuatio
Concupiscentae et libidinis exterminatio,
Caritatis et patientiae,
Humilitatis et obedientiae,
Omniumque virtutum augmentatio.
-Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)