Well, this was unexpected. I was trying to write a song, and a poem came out. “The Raven and the Nightingale (Took Tea with Mary Shelley)” happened quickly, over the last two days. Mostly, I listened and wrote down what I heard. (And consulted an online rhyming dictionary a few times; RhymeZone is an amazing resource for not only rhymes but phrases and quotations.)

In the poem, the raven is an allusion to Edgar Allan Poe, and the nightingale is an allusion to John Keats—for the straightforward reason that Poe wrote the famous poem “The Raven” (1845), and Keats wrote the famous poem “Ode to a Nightingale” (1819). Born within fourteen years of each other, Poe, Keats, and Mary Shelley (who published the novel Frankenstein in 1818) were contemporaries—Poe in the United States, and Keats and Shelley in England and Italy (though Poe lived in and around London for five years as a boy).

Maybe I’ll try to turn the poem into a song. But for now…

The Raven and the Nightingale (Took Tea with Mary Shelley)

A bird of ebon crossed the sea
And met a songbird in a tree.
“’Tis bitter cold upon the heath—
Let’s find a roof to be beneath.”

They lit upon a windowsill,
Where nightingale began to trill.
“I have a better way, old chap,”
And raven showed him: tap, tap, tap.

“A raven! And a nightingale!
Come in and fill your belly.”

The raven and the nightingale
Took tea with Mary Shelley.

“You saved me from a fitful sleep.”
She sighed and let Darjeeling steep.
“I’ve been alone so long, you see,
It’s grand to have some company!”

The raven and the nightingale
Ate little cakes with jelly.

The raven and the nightingale
Took tea with Mary Shelley.

The raven quoth, “There goes the dark!
’Tis morn, the province of the lark.”
Said nightingale, “Since we are free,
Let’s go to where they make the tea!”

“Dear raven and dear nightingale,
Safe travels to New Delhi.”

The raven and the nightingale
Took tea with Mary Shelley.