Happy Limerick Day

To honor a writer named Lear,
Whose limericks this day we cheer,
We'll write our own,
Though silly in tone.
Good thing it comes just once a year!

Limerick day is celebrated each year to mark the birth of English artist and author Edward Lear (1812–88), whose witty words made the limerick form popular.

Here is one of Lear's limericks to match today's photograph by American surrealist Man Ray:

There was a Young Lady whose eyes,
Were unique as to colour and size;
When she opened them wide,
People all turned aside,
And started away in surprise.

Source: Holbrook Jackson, ed. Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear (Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 1951).

Pictured: Man Ray, 1890 USA–1976 France, Printer: Pierre Gassmann, Indestructible Object, 1965, wood, fiber, metal, and paper on cardboard, 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Samuel M. Greenbaum and Helen Mark families in memory of Helen Mark Greenbaum.