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$10 limerick #10

There was a young man of Australia
Who painted his bum like a dahlia.
     The drawing was fine,
     The colour divine
But the scent – ah! that was a failure.

Norman Douglas:
"As no European would behave in this fashion, we must suppose him to have been a native. And since these natives know nothing of paint, it follows that tattooing in colours is intended. Australian tattooing is of no great repute; the practice is certainly less common there than among the New Zealanders, who used to be masters of the art, second only to the Japanese.

"Apropos of Japan – readers of Madame Chrysanthème will recall a passage describing how that identical region of the body was ingeniously utilized in the tattooing of a foxhunt.

"Dahlias are not indigenous to Australia, but to Mexico and Central America. The young man, therefore, cannot have set out to portray a flower which was unfamiliar to him; he probably attempted a local plant (his artistic effort is said to have been 'like a dahlia'), and it was doubtless a spectator, some prying Englishman, who thought to detect a resemblance between a dahlia and the tattooed surface. My botanical expert writes: 'Dahlias are first mentioned by Hernandez in his History of Mexico, 1651; later on by the Frenchman Ménonville, who went out there to steal the red cochineal insect from the Spaniards. Named for Andrew Dahl, Swedish botanist, and introduced into England by the Marchioness of Bute; afterwards by Lady Holland to Holland House. All dahlias, including the variety cocksinia, are scentless."

(Ed.note:
Douglas' version beats the pants off the occasionally anthologized:

There was a young girl of Australia,
Who went to a dance as a dahlia,
     When the petals uncurled,
     It revealed to the world,
That as clothing the dress was a failure.)
$10 Limerick No.11

Or Take Your Pick:

girl from Kilkenny Sappho of Greece girl of Pitlochry girl of Baroda
man of Peru man of Belgravia Royal Marine lady at sea
man of Devizes man of Australia man called McLean lady of Kew
man of the Cape lady named Skinner man of Kildare man of Cape Horn
Dean of Saint Paul's lady called Wylde student of John's man of Loch Leven