Classic Poem

( AFTER AN EVENING SPENT IN READING THE BIG BOYS )

HONEYMOON

Ponder, darling, these busted statues,
Be aware of the forum, sweet;
Feel the centuries tearing at youse —
Don't keep asking me when we eat!

Look, my love, where the hills hang drowsy;
Caesar watched them, a-wondering, here.
Get yon goddesses, chipped and lousy —
Don't be trying to bite my ear!

Child, consider the clouds above you,
Soft and silly, like baby goats —
Don't keep asking me don't I love you!
Judas! When will you know your oats?

TRIOLET

Her teeth were accidental stars
With a talent for squad drill;
The Pleiades, Orion, Mars —
Her teeth were accidental stars,
Assured celestial corporal's bars,
So straight they stood, and still.
Her teeth were accidental stars
With a talent for squad drill.

MÉLANGE FOR THE UNKNOWN GEORGE

George is a lion;
There is no pope;
Death is the scion
Of the house of Hope.
George is a gazelle;
There is no Freud;
Charles Parnell
Looked like Ernest Boyd.
George is a llama;
There is no stork;
Papa loves Mama
Like Jews love pork.
There's no Frances Newman —
In a pig's right eye!
Death is as human
As a mandrake's cry.
George is a racoon; he
Insists there is art.
Little Annie Rooney
Is my sweetheart.