43779.fb2 Shapes of Clay - читать онлайн бесплатно полную версию книги . Страница 150

Shapes of Clay - читать онлайн бесплатно полную версию книги . Страница 150

A FOOL.

  Says Anderson, Theosophist:  "Among the many that exist         In modern halls,  Some lived in ancient Egypt's clime  And in their childhood saw the prime         Of Karnak's walls."  Ah, Anderson, if that is true  'T is my conviction, sir, that you         Are one of those  That once resided by the Nile,  Peer to the sacred Crocodile,         Heir to his woes.  My judgment is, the holy Cat  Mews through your larynx (and your hat)         These many years.  Through you the godlike Onion brings  Its melancholy sense of things,         And moves to tears.  In you the Bull divine again  Bellows and paws the dusty plain,      To nature true.  I challenge not his ancient hate  But, lowering my knurly pate,      Lock horns with you.  And though Reincarnation prove  A creed too stubborn to remove,      And all your school  Of Theosophs I cannot scare—  All the more earnestly I swear      That you're a fool.  You'll say that this is mere abuse  Without, in fraying you, a use.      That's plain to see  With only half an eye. Come, now,  Be fair, be fair,—consider how      It eases me!