Classic Poem

The world went well; the heavens smiled, complacent,
On Massachusetts Bay and parts adjacent;

The Savages, arrayed in skins of beavers,
Had been removed by providential fevers;

The fields were flourishing, and e'en the bearish
Allowed that trade and fisheries were fairish;

The Williamses, the Hutchinsons, the Quakers
And other contumacious trouble-makers,

Convinced by potent arguments, had vanished
(Imprisoned, whipped at cart-tail, hanged or banished),

When Parson Bondish, strong in exhortation,
Arose to edify the congregation,
Beginning — (not in total self-effacement) —
With some few words of personal abasement.

" Dear Brothers, " quoth the Preacher, " in all meekness
I come, a child of wrath and sin and weakness — "

" Amen! that's true! " intoned a rash invader,
Defiance Cock, the surly Indian trader.

" Yea, here I stand, " resumed the scowling Preacher,
" A Thing of Naught, a miserable creature — "

" Aye, " growled the Trader, " ye were born and bred so;
'Tis true as Gospel — even if ye said so. "

" A Worm am I! " the Parson thundered, banging
His oaken desk — " A Wretch too bad for hanging! "

" Correct, " cried Cock, despite impending fury,
" As I will gladly prove before a jury. "

Good Bondish clenched both fists; a stout crusader,
He braved Defiance Cock, the Indian trader.

" When I, " he blared, " self-humbled, would have cleared me
Of Pride of Flesh, thou venturest to beard me?

" I own my faults, I hope to rise above them —
But no one else shall dare to tell me of them! "

Whereat, the Parson rapidly descended —
And then and there the controversy ended,

Stern Bondish preaching hours, unrelenting,
At Cock within the pillory, repenting.

And this is why I dare not tell my story —
For Boston might not think it laudatory;

And why I'll ever strive to be complacent
Toward Massachusetts Bay and parts adjacent.