A bold bad butterfly

Chapter 22: JAPANESQUE

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About This Book

A compact collection of whimsical fables and light verse that personify animals, plants, and fanciful figures to satirize human foibles and social manners. Short narrative poems and epigrammatic pieces move between playful storytelling and wry moral observation, often turning a single conceit into a sly reversal. Many items are paired with the author’s line illustrations, and the overall tone balances gentle humor with ironic commentary on pride, vanity, and pretension.

JAPANESQUE

Oh, where the white quince blossom swings

I love to take my Japan ease!

I love the maid Anise who clings

So lightly on my Japan knees;

I love the little song she sings,

The little love-song Japanese.

I almost love the lute’s tink tunkle

Played by that charming Jap Anise—

For am I not her old Jap uncle?

And is she not my Japan niece?