Sally Simpkin’s Lament; Or, John Jones’s Kit-cat-astrophe.

“He left his body to the sea,

And made a shark his legatee.”

BRYAN AND PERENNE.

“Oh! what is that comes gliding¹ in,

And quite in middling haste?

It is the picture of my Jones,

And painted to the waist.

“It is not painted to the life,

For where’s the trowsers blue?

Oh Jones, my dear! — Oh dear! my Jones,

What is become of you?”

“Oh! Sally dear, it is too true —

The half that you remark

Is come to say my other half

Is bit off by a shark!

“Oh! Sally, sharks do things by halves,

Yet most completely do!

A bite in one place soems enough,

But I’ve been bit in two.

“You know I once was all your own,

But now a shark must share!

But let that pass — for now, to you

I’m neither here nor there.”

“Alas! death has a strange divorce

Effected in the sea,

It has divided me from you,

And even me from me!

“Don’t fear my ghost will walk o’ nights

To haunt, as people say;

My ghost can’t walk, for, oh! my legs

Are many leagues away!

“Lord! think when I am swimming round,

And looking where the boat is,

A shark just snaps away a half,

Without a ’quarter’s notice.’

“One half is here, the other half

Is near Columbia placed;

Oh! Sally, I have got the whole

Atlantic for my waist.

“But now, adieu — a long adieu!

I’ve solved death’s awful riddle²,

And would say more, but I am doomed³

To break off in the middle!”

1 gliding   

v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的

参考例句：

• Swans went gliding past. 天鹅滑行而过。
• The weather forecast has put a question mark against the chance of doing any gliding tomorrow. 天气预报对明天是否能举行滑翔表示怀疑。

2 riddle   

n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜

参考例句：

• The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
• Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。

3 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。