GARDENERS will sympathise with this charming trifle from the pen of New England’s Robert Frost. The spelling is in his original American English. Malice prepense means premeditated malice!

THE OBJECTION TO BEING STEPPED ON

At the end of the row

I stepped on the toe

Of an unemployed hoe.

It rose in offense

And struck me a blow

In the seat of my sense.

It wasn’t to blame

But I called it a name.

And I must say it dealt

Me a blow that I felt

Like malice prepense.

You may call me a fool

But was there a rule

The weapon should be

Turned into a tool?

And what do we see?

The first tool I step on

Turned into a weapon.