In honor of World Poetry Day, we offer this whimsical verse from the pen of popular newspaper poet Nixon Waterman, published in the December 1892 issue of Illustrated World’s Fair.

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THE MAN IN THE MOON

by Nixon Waterman

The man in the moon, as he sails through the sky,

Can’t help but to turn an admiring eye,

And linger a while as he passes the site

Of that perfectly wonderful City of White.

And he says to himself, “All next summer I’ll see

The Fair without paying a penny, he, he!

And I won’t have to peep through a crack in the fence,

Nor I won’t have to part with my good fifty cents.

.

“I’ll come up each evening before it is dark

And saunter around here right over the park.

I’ll stay just as late as I please and anon

Wink at the police who would have me ‘move on.

I’ll see the whole show just us slick us a pin.

While everyone else has to pay to get in,

For unless they come after me in a balloon,

They won’t get a cent from the man in the moon.”