O! Mimber for the County Louth

Residing at Ardee!

Whom I, before I wander South,

Partik'lar wish to see; —

I send you this – that you may know

I've left the Sussex shore,

And coming here two days ago

Do cough for evermore.

Or gasping hard for breath do sit

Upon a brutal chair,

For to lie down in Asthma fit

Is what I cannot bear.

Or sometimes sneeze: and always blow

My well-developed nose,

And altogether never know

No comfort nor repose.

All through next week I shall be here,

To work as best I may

On my last picture, which is near —

– er finished every day.

But after the thirteenth, – (that's Sunday)

I must – if able – start

(Or on the Tuesday if not Monday)

For England's Northern part.

And thence I only come again

Just to pack up and run,

Somewhere where life may less be pain,

And somewhere where there's sun.

So then I hope to hear your ways

Are bent on English moves,

For that I trust once more to gaze

Upon the friend I loves.

(Alas! Blue Posts I shall not dare

To visit e're I go —

Being compulsed to take such care

Of all the winds as blow.)

But if you are not coming now

Just write a line to say so —

And I shall still consider how

Ajoskyboskybayso.

No more my pen: no more my ink:

No more my rhyme is clear.

So I shall leave off here I think. —

Yours ever,

Edward Lear.