The Height Of The Ridiculous

I wrote some lines once on a time     In wondrous merry mood,     And thought, as usual, men would say     They were exceeding good.     They were so queer, so very queer,     I laughed as I would die;     Albeit, in the general way,     A sober man am I.     I called my servant, and he came;     How kind it was of him     To mind a slender man like me,     He of the mighty limb.     "These to the printer," I exclaimed,     And, in my humorous way,     I added, (as a trifling jest,)     "There'll be the devil to pay."     He took the paper, and I watched,     And saw him peep within;     At the first line he read, his face     Was all upon the grin.     He read the next; the grin grew broad,     And shot from ear to ear;     He read the third; a chuckling noise     I now began to hear.     The fourth; he broke into a roar;     The fifth; his waistband split;     The sixth; he burst five buttons off,     And tumbled in a fit.     Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye,     I watched that wretched man,     And since, I never dare to write     As funny as I can.