Jupiter
Le bon Dieu.
Jove waking up from a nap t'other day
Gave us a thought, in a kind enough way:
" May be their planet hath perished, " he cries,
As from his window he peers at the skies
But at the word, far away he still found
Snug in a corner Earth spinning around —
" If in what they're about head or tail I can see,
May the devil, " quoth Jove, " may the devil take me!
" Mortals, " he adds, quite paternal his air,
" Grilling, or freezing, or swarthy, or fair,
Ye, whom I moulded in fashion so small,
'Tis a pretence, that I rule you at all
Pshaw! it's all stuff; and I'd have you to know,
I have my ministers also below!
Ay, and if I don't bundle out some two or three,
May the devil, my children, the devil take me!
" Did not I grant — that in peace ye might live —
Beauty and wine? and in vain did I give?
What! to my beard do the pigmies proclaim
Me as the God of their hosts? and my name
Dare they invoke, when they level their guns
Vomiting death upon you, O my sons?
Ah! if e'er at the head of a regiment I be,
May the devil, my children, the devil take me!
" What are those dwarfs doing, gaily tricked out,
Seated on thrones with gilt nails stuck about?
Brows are anointed, and pride has full sway,
Whilst — but the chiefs of your ant-hillock — they
Tell you I've blessed all the rights of their race,
Bid you believe that they're kings by my grace
If to reign in their fashion could be my decree,
May the devil, my children, the devil take me!
" Others live on me, in black all arrayed —
Dwarfs, of whose censers my nose is afraid:
Life to a Lent they're essaying to tame,
Launching anathemas couched in my name —
All this in sermons, sublime, without doubt —
Though what they mean I could never make out
If I credit a word that is found in their plea,
May the devil, my children, the devil take me!
" Children, no longer ill-will to me bear;
Good honest hearts my elect I declare
Love when ye can, and all pleasures secure;
'Tis not for this that I'll drown you, be sure
Nabobs and hypocrites learn to defy! —
But, fare ye well, I'm afraid of that spy:
Ah! if e'er to those fellows my gates I set free,
May the devil, my children, the devil take me! "
Jove waking up from a nap t'other day
Gave us a thought, in a kind enough way:
" May be their planet hath perished, " he cries,
As from his window he peers at the skies
But at the word, far away he still found
Snug in a corner Earth spinning around —
" If in what they're about head or tail I can see,
May the devil, " quoth Jove, " may the devil take me!
" Mortals, " he adds, quite paternal his air,
" Grilling, or freezing, or swarthy, or fair,
Ye, whom I moulded in fashion so small,
'Tis a pretence, that I rule you at all
Pshaw! it's all stuff; and I'd have you to know,
I have my ministers also below!
Ay, and if I don't bundle out some two or three,
May the devil, my children, the devil take me!
" Did not I grant — that in peace ye might live —
Beauty and wine? and in vain did I give?
What! to my beard do the pigmies proclaim
Me as the God of their hosts? and my name
Dare they invoke, when they level their guns
Vomiting death upon you, O my sons?
Ah! if e'er at the head of a regiment I be,
May the devil, my children, the devil take me!
" What are those dwarfs doing, gaily tricked out,
Seated on thrones with gilt nails stuck about?
Brows are anointed, and pride has full sway,
Whilst — but the chiefs of your ant-hillock — they
Tell you I've blessed all the rights of their race,
Bid you believe that they're kings by my grace
If to reign in their fashion could be my decree,
May the devil, my children, the devil take me!
" Others live on me, in black all arrayed —
Dwarfs, of whose censers my nose is afraid:
Life to a Lent they're essaying to tame,
Launching anathemas couched in my name —
All this in sermons, sublime, without doubt —
Though what they mean I could never make out
If I credit a word that is found in their plea,
May the devil, my children, the devil take me!
" Children, no longer ill-will to me bear;
Good honest hearts my elect I declare
Love when ye can, and all pleasures secure;
'Tis not for this that I'll drown you, be sure
Nabobs and hypocrites learn to defy! —
But, fare ye well, I'm afraid of that spy:
Ah! if e'er to those fellows my gates I set free,
May the devil, my children, the devil take me! "
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