Task 38 - a diversion "..long time the manxome foe (s)he sought.."

..well it wasn't THAT long - I'm back in D208 &..

"Listen.. Listen.. It's a goal!!"
 (with apologies to the legendary Winston McCarthy).

well, yes!  Now it's working perfectly.  And so, for a diversion,
from Lewis Carroll..
-                                                                              The Jabberwock
-                                                                                         as illustrated by John Tenniel
 

Jabberwocky

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought--
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey                               wood,                                                                    
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe. 
                                                            "

“

”

from Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1872)

I've always liked this, so I'm pleased to have an excuse to include it.
And isn't Shakespeare marvellous:

"The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead

  Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets"

Hamlet: Act I, Scene i.