of the poor."

Though in the ice-box, fresh and newly laid,
The rude forefathers of the omelet sleep,
No eggs for breakfast till the bill is paid:
We cannot cook again till coal is cheap.

Can Morris-chair or papier-mache bust
Revivify the failing pressure-gauge?
Chop up the grand piano if you must,
And burn the East Aurora parrot-cage!

Full many a can of purest kerosene
The dark unfathomed tanks of Standard Oil
Shall furnish me, and with their aid I mean
To bring my morning coffee to a boil.

The village collier (flinty-hearted beast)
Who tried to hold me up in such a pinch
May soon be numbered with the dear deceased:
I give him to the mercy of Judge Lynch.

MOONS WE SAW AT SEVENTEEN

August casts her burning spell:
One vast sapphire is the sky;
Woods still have their musky smell,
By the pool the dragon fly
Like a jewelled scarf-pin glows.
Doris, Vera, and Kathleen--
Where are they? and where are those
Moons we saw at seventeen?

Bright as amber, and as round
As a new engagement ring--
(So we murmured, gently bound
To some flapper's leading string.)
Sweet and witless repartee:
Perilous canoes careen--
Telescopes would split, to see
MOONS we saw at seventeen!

AT THE DOG SHOW

To an Irish Wolf Hound

Long and grey and gaunt he lies,
A Lincoln among dogs; his eyes,
Deep and clear of sight, appraise
The meaningless and shuffling ways
Of human folk that stop to stare.
One witless woman seeing there
How tired, how contemptuous
He is of all the smell and fuss
Asks him, "Poor fellow, are you sick?"

Yea, sick, and weary to the quick
Of heat and noise from dawn to dark.
He will not even stoop to bark
His protest, like the lesser bred.
Would he might know, one gazer read
The wistful longing in his face,
The thirst for wind and open space
And stretch of limbs to him begrudged.
There came a little, dapper, fat
And bustling man, with cane and spat
And pearl-grey vest and derby hat--
Such were the judger and the judged!

THE OLD SWIMMER

I often wander on the beach
Where once, so brown of limb,
The biting air, the roaring surf
Summoned me to swim.

I see my old abundant youth
Where combers lean and spill,
And thoug