| Whether He the quaint savant’s power doth hold I know not,
|
| Albeit ætat a thousand stars' birth He is —
|
| Quoth I that for reasons to me oblivious
|
| August of a granditude of servants is He held,
|
| And by plastic consonantry e’en more servants to the host addéd are —
|
| Pelf they are, dare I say!
|
| Maugre His diurnal seraphic deviltry
|
| I say that deviltry — 'tis forsooth deviltry! |
| -
|
| Mind not this in scintillating shades clad is;
|
| To claim the glore is He suffer’d.
|
| «Grant me the fatlings», qouth He, «the fatter the better!»,
|
| And died they of starvation;
|
| They are not slaughtering their fatlings —
|
| They are slaughtering 'hemselves.
|
| Sith I at time of yester the questions durst ask,
|
| And dare I say this burthen weightful was,
|
| Wrack of His machine-like motion was I naméd,
|
| Tho' blind and fond the jesters rebuilt
|
| The machine alike — yet whettéd and dight are its edges… |