Carroll’s “’Tis the Voice of the Lobster”

Carroll wrote the second stanza of the nonsense poem in 1886 for the first theatrical adaptation of Alice

’Tis the voice of the Lobster, I heard him declare
“You have baked me too brown: I must sugar my hair.”
As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
Trims his belt & his buttons, & turns out his toes.
When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark,
And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark:
But, when the tide rises and Sharks are around,
His voice has a timid & tremulous sound.

I passed by his garden, & marked with one eye
How the Owl & the Panther were sharing a pie:
The Panther took pie-crust, & gravy, & meat,
While the Owl got the dish as his share of the treat.
When the plate pie was divided all finished, the Owl , as a boon,
Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon:
While the Panther received knife & fork with a growl,
And concluded the banquet by eating the Owl.

Lewis Carroll.
Oct. 31. 1886