Unidad documental simple 59 - Verses by A. E. Housman entitled ‘Aids towards answering the first question of the Catechism’

(With a note by G. C. A. Jackson, dated 25 July 1950.)

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Transcript

Aids | towards answering the first question in the | Catechism.

When G. C. J. Arden
Goes out in the garden
To play with the slugs and the snails
Their lives are imperilled
By C. A. J. Gerald
Who treads on their backs and their tails.
Their tails and their backs on
Treads G. C. A. Jackson,
And each of them squirms and exclaims,
“Oh G. A. J. Christopher,
See how I twist over
Under your numerous names.”

[The accompanying note is as follows:]

Dr G. C. A. Jackson
85 North Avenue, Salisbury, S. Rhodesia
25.7.50

“Aids towards answering the first question in the Catechism”

Written some time after my christening {1} by | A. E. Ho[u]sman | my Godfather.

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The indentation of the verses has not been reproduced.

{1} Moses Jackson asked A. E. Housman to stand as Gerald’s godfather in 1900, the year of Gerald’s birth (Letters of Housman, ed. Burnett, vol. i, p. xxxviii), but it is unclear when the verses were written.