the first poem i ever loved

The Story of Augustus Who Would Not Have Any Soup

Augustus was a chubby lad;
Fat ruddy cheeks Augustus had;
And everybody saw with joy,
The plump and hearty healthy boy.
He ate and drank as he was told,
And never let his soup get cold.
But one day, one cold Winter's day,
He screamed out--"Take the soup away!
O take the nasty soup away!
I won't have any soup today!"

How lank and lean Augustus grows!
Next day he scarcely fills his cloths,
Yet, though he feels so weak and ill,
The naughty fellow cries out still--
"Not any soup for me, I say:
O take the nasty soup away!
I won't have any soup today!"

The third day comes; oh; what a sin!
To make himself so pale and thin.
Yet, when the soup is put on table,
He screams as loud as he is able,
"Not any soup for me, I say:
O take the nasty soup away!
I won't have any soup today!"

Look at him now, the fourth day's come!
He scarcely weighs a sugar-plum;
He's like a little bit of thread,
And on the fifth day he was--dead!

by Heinrich Hoffmann