Those Annual Bills by Mark Twain
THOSE ANNUAL BILLS
BY MARK TWAIN
EIL Editor’s note: Never one to shy away from social commentary or criticism, Twain’s Those Annual Bills is a semi-comical lament of the financial necessities of existence which is met with nearly universal agreement even today.
Mark Twain Statue
photograph by Flickr.com
user Billie Hara
January 30, 2008
Creative Commons License
These annual bills! these annual bills!
How many a song their discord trills
Of “truck” consumed, enjoyed, forgot,
Since I was skinned by last year’s lot!
Those joyous beans are passed away;
Those onions blithe, O where are they?
Once loved, lost, mourned—now vexing ILLS
Your shades troop back in annual bills!
And so ’twill be when I’m aground
These yearly duns will still go round,
While other bards, with frantic quills,
Shall damn and damn these annual bills!
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If you enjoyed this piece, you may also enjoy EIL’s collection of other Mark Twain poetry. Of course, in addition to fiction and poetry, Mark Twain was also an excellent writer of prose pieces. EIl’s selection of these can be found here.
If you’d like to learn more about this author you can read our Mark Twain biography or explore our other Mark Twain Resources.
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When will you read Mark Twain’s writing in Excellence in Literature?
E1.3 Focus text: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court OR Joan of Arc
E1.3 Honors text: The Prince and the Pauper
