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Home  »  The World’s Best Poetry  »  “Max and Maurice”: Preface

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

Poems of Home: III. Fun for Little Folk

“Max and Maurice”: Preface

Wilhelm Busch (1832–1908)

Translated by Charles Timothy Brooks

AH, how oft we read or hear of

Boys we almost stand in fear of!

For example, take these stories

Of two youths, named Max and Maurice,

Who, instead of early turning

Their young minds to useful learning,

Often leered with horrid features

At their lessons and their teachers.

Look now at the empty head: he

Is for mischief always ready.

Teasing creatures, climbing fences,

Stealing apples, pears, and quinces,

Is, of course, a deal more pleasant,

And far easier for the present,

Than to sit in schools or churches,

Fixed like roosters on their perches.

But O dear, O dear, O deary,

When the end comes sad and dreary!

’T is a dreadful thing to tell

That on Max and Maurice fell!