limerick：英语中的打油诗

limerick虽然是打油诗，但有严格的格律要求：一共五行，押韵方式为AABBA，一般采用抑抑扬格（anapestic meter），一二五句三个音步，三四句两个音步。
既然是打油诗，自然有许多不雅内容，网上有许多这样的，但内容手法单一，未免单调。偶尔碰到一些能跳出下三路内容，纯玩文字游戏的是为佳作。
下面是我看到之中很喜欢的几首：
There was a young lady of Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger;
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside,
And the smile on the face of the tiger.
虽显残酷，但趣味盎然。
A wonderful bird is the pelican;
His beak can hold more than his belican.
He can hold in his beak
Enough food for a week,
Though I’m damned if I know how the helican!
把几个单词拼到一起凑韵，喜欢wordplay的我看到之后不免激动了一下。
A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the fly, "let us flee!"
"Let us fly!" said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
这首真心赞，同音词的妙用。
T. S. Eliot is quite at a loss
When clubwomen bustle across
At literary teas
Crying, "What, if you please,
Did you mean by The Mill On the Floss?"
妙用T.S. Eliot的小说The Mill On the Floss。
There was a young lady of station
"I love man" was her sole exclamation
But when men cried, "You flatter"
She replied, "Oh! no matter!
Isle of Man is the true explanation."
Isle of Man，地名新解。
这里还有许多，上面只是我喜欢的几首。