The (almost really) Complete Works of Lewis Carroll

No, no! I cannot write a line

Source: sent to Margaret Cunnynghame, April 10, 1871

No, no! I cannot write a line,
I cannot write a word:
The thoughts I think appear in ink
So shockingly absurd.

To wander in an empty cave
Is fruitless work, ’tis said:
What must it be for one like me
To wander in his head?

You say that I’m “to write a verse”—
0 Maggie, put it quite
The other way, and kindly say
That I’m “averse to write”!

C. L. D.