And Bryant"s "To a Water-fowl!"
Had praise in every line, And every word about the bird Impinged on the divine.
When Wordsworth did the skylark stuff, He praised the bird a few, And Sh.e.l.ley"s ode sincerely showed He liked the skylark, too.
O Poets, if ye had but dwelt Upon a Harlem block, Fain would I read your poems sweet Upon the sparrows" "Peet! Peet! Peet!"
The sparrows that have built their nest Ten feet from where one takes one"s rest, And "gin their merry, blithesome song Each morning--quenchless, clear and strong Promptly at four o"clock.
A Wish
(An Apartmental Ditty.)
Mine be a flat beside the Hill; A vendor"s cry shall soothe my ear A landlord shall present his bill At least a dozen times a year.
The tenor, oft, below my flat, Shall practise "Violets" and such; And in the area a cat Shall beat the band, the cars, and Dutch.
Around the neighbourhood shall be About a hundred thousand kids; And, eke in that vicinitee, Ten pianolas without lids.
And mornings, I suppose, by gosh, I"ll be awakened prompt at seven, By ladies hanging up the wash Only a mile or so from heaven.
The Monument of Q.H.F.
AD MELPOMENEN
Horace: Book III, Ode 30.
_"Exegi monumentum aere perennius.
Regalique situ pyramidum altius"_
Look you, the monument I have erected High as the pyramids, royal, sublime, During as bra.s.s--it shall not be affected E"en by the elements coupled with Time.
Part of me, most of me never shall perish; I shall be free from Oblivion"s curse; Mine is a name that the future will cherish-- I shall be known by my excellent verse.
I shall be famous all over this nation Centuries after myself shall have died; People will point to my versification-- I, who was born on the Lower East Side!
Come, then, Melpomene, why not admit me?
I want a wreath that is Delphic and green, Seven, I think, is the size that will fit me-- Slip me some laurel to wear on my bean.