A Philistine? Then you will smile
At this old willow-pattern plate
And junks of long-forgotten date
That anchor off Pagoda Isle;
At little pig-tailed simpering rakes
Who kiss their hands (three miles away)
To dainty beauties of Cathay
Beside those un-foreshortened lakes.
With hand on heart they smile and sue.
Their topsy-turvy world, you say,
Is out of all perspective? Nay,
'Tis we who look at life askew.
Dreams lose their spell; hard facts we prize
In our humdrum philosophy;
But, could we change, who would not be
A suitor for those azure eyes?
Who would not sail with fairy freight
Piloting some flat-bottomed barge--
A size too small, or else too large--
On this old willow-pattern plate?
* * * * *
"The 'Figaro' publishes a telegram from Petrograd which contradicts
the German announcement that Lodz is occupied by the
Kermans."--_Lancashire Evening Post._
And quite right too.
* * * * *