52
MATHEMATICIAN, ne’er forget
The number not to fix
Of thy prolific brood of yet
Unincubated chicks!
Let newly-wedded couples name
No visionary son ;
And let not Quatre Bras exclaim
That Waterloo is won.
Let fiancées (of fifteen years)
No furniture discuss ;
Let mountains never pose as seers
Of the expected “ mus.”
Let glories of a novel climb
Before that climb be dumb ;
Nor of a record-breaking time
Before the achievement hum.
Let no man of his doings boast
Before those deeds be wrought;
No cook proceed his hare to roast
Before that hare be caught.