Dicken's Nurse

Insane old nurse,

grotesque and drunken,

adhering closely to unhealthy customs.

Dispensing

sugar-and-butter

brandy-and-water,

and other weak mixtures.

Dressed in parturient gingham,

embalmed in inimitable conception of Dickens.

The old plaid cloak,

the shabby bonnet,

and the Gamp umbrella.

The nurse of 19th century books,

remembered like a primitive,

cumbrous instrument,

styled for a century in France ‘un Robinson’.