Speaking of Limericks...

Happy birthday to Edward Lear, famous writer of limericks and other "nonsense lyrics". Few poets have attempted- much less achieved- so profound an expression and depth of feeling, so keen an understanding of the eternal questions of mankind; the quest for the unknown and the insatiable thirst for understanding, the perennial themes of abandonment and unrequited love, and of course the baffling transience of human existence. Fewer still can boast so nimble a command of wit and whimsy at the same time.

'How pleasant to know Mr Lear!'
Who has written such volumes of stuff!
Some think him ill tempered and queer,
But a few think him pleasant enough.