Who Is It?
Who Is It?
Original Text
Albert Durrant Watson, The Wing of the Wild Bird and Other Poems (Toronto: William Briggs, 1908): 87. Internet Archive.
1If he has to, he will not,
2 He will if he mustn't;
3He does if he shouldn't
4 And should if he doesn't.
5If he can, he won't try it,
6 If he cannot he wants to;
7Whatever's forbidden,
8 That's just what he's drawn to.
9You'd have him a sage,
10 Then he'll talk like a fool;
11He's as cross as a saw-horse
12 And acts like a mule.
13"Who is it?" you ask,
14 I should like to know, too,
15But it's your private task
16 To take care 'tisn't you.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2011
Rhyme
Form