_Sonnet: Attempting to prove that Black is White._--
"It has been said of many, they were quite
Prepared to prove (I do not mean in fun)
That white was really black, and black was white;
But I believe it has not yet been done.
Black (Saxon, Blac) in any way to liken
With _candour_ may seem almost out of reach;
Yet _whiten_ is in kindred German _bleichen_,
Undoubtedly identical with _bleach_:
This last verb's cognate adjective is _bleak_--
Reverting to the Saxon, _bleak_ is blæk. [4]
A semivowel is, at the last squeak,
All that remains such difference wide to make--
The hostile terms of keen antithesis
Brought to an _E plus ultra_ all but kiss!"