Edward Lear: Cold are the crabs

.

Macrocercus aracanga [now Ara macao] (Red and Yellow Maccaw)

Cold are the crabs that crawl on yonder hills,
Colder the cucumbers that grow beneath,
And colder still the brazen chops that wreathe
The tedious gloom of philosophic pills!
For when the tardy film of nectar fills
The simple bowls of demons and of men,
There lurks the feeble mouse, the homely hen,
And there the porcupine with all her quills.
Yet much remains -- to weave a solemn strain
That lingering sadly -- slowly dies away,
Daily departing with departing day
A pea-green gamut on a distant plain
When wily walrusses in congresses meet --
Such such is life --

Plyctolophus leadbetteri (Leadbetter's Cockatoo)

Macrocinthus hyacinthus (Hyacinthine Maccaw)

Psittacula kuhlii (Kuhl's Parrakeet)

Trichoglossus rubritorquis (Scarlet-collared Parrakeet)

Palaeornis rosaceus (Roseate Parrakeet)

Palaeornis novae-hollandiae (New Holland Parrakeet)

Platycercus pileatus (Red-capped Parrakeet)

Platycercus pileatus (Red-capped Parrakeet)

Platycercus barnardi (Barnard's Parrakeet)

Platycercus baueri (Bauer's Parrakeet)

Psittacara patagonica (Patagonian Parrakeet-Maccaw)

Platycercus tabuensis (Tabuan Parrakeet)

Edward Lear (1818-1888): Illustrations of the Family of Ptsittacidae, or Parrots, 1830 (images via uw digital collections)

Edward Lear self-portrait, illustrating a real incident in which he had encountered a stranger who claimed that "Edward Lear" was merely a pseudonym; Lear (on the right) is showing the stranger (left) the inside of his hat, with his name in the lining: Edward Lear (1812-1888), n.d., from Edward Lear's Nonsense Omnibus, 1943

Edward Lear: Cold are the crabs, n.d., Houghton Library ms. [perhaps unfinished -- ?]; opening line parodies Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812-1818), Canto II, xii, 3: 'Cold as the crags upon his native coast'; text from The Complete Verse and Other Nonsense, 2001