| |
| A NOSE, however aquiline, | |
| Escapes detection in a throng— | |
| So she hopes; but sense of sin | |
| Made her shrink, and steal along. | |
| |
| Streets glazed by mocking summer heat | 5 |
| To semblance of a cool canal, | |
| Where iridescent insects beat | |
| Their wings upon the liquid wall; | |
| |
| Where radiant insects, carrion-fed, | |
| Buzz and flutter busily— | 10 |
| Smile, or frown, or nod the head, | |
| Expressing some familiar lie. | |
| |
| Enter the house, ascend the stair! | |
| Consult the scintillating ball. | |
| Beatrice Freudenthal, beware! | 15 |
| Eve felt like you before the Fall. | |
| |
| Within the shining mystic globe | |
| Lies luck-at-bridge, or martyr’s crown; | |
| A modern prophetess will probe | |
| The future, for one guinea down. | 20 |
| |
| For that amount, the future’s sword | |
| From crystal scabbard she will drag. | |
| She can unpack the future’s hoard | |
| As we unpack a Gladstone bag. . . . . . . . | |
| Without the agency of man, | 25 |
| Solely by fasting and by prayer, | |
| The wizards of old Jenghiz Khan | |
| Could move a wine-cup through the air | |
| |
| Until it reached him, and he drank | |
| Fermented juice of rye or grape. | 30 |
| The cup flew back; his courtiers shrank | |
| Away, astonished and agape. | |
| |
| Before the Llama turns to grapple | |
| With state affairs, he learns to spin | |
| (Despite Sir Isaac Newton’s apple) | 35 |
| In mid-air sixty times—to win | |
| |
| Amusement mixed with approbation | |
| From skeptical ambassadors; | |
| For any kind of levitation | |
| Increases prestige with the Powers. | 40 |
| |
| Such things were practised—did not tend | |
| To promote war or anarchy; | |
| Yet now such things would even end | |
| A Constitutional Monarchy. | |
| |
| Magic for a holy race | 45 |
| Is surely wrong; how strictly hidden | |
| The future in its crystal case | |
| Lies—oh, so near, and yet forbidden! | |
| |
| Though gentile kings upon their thrones | |
| May weave a spell or dance like Tich, | 50 |
| Yet ponder on the bleaching bones | |
| Of Saul, who sought the Endor witch. | |
| |
