THE DEAN'S COMPLAINT, TRANSLATED AND ANSWERED

DOCTOR. Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone.

ANSWER. Except the first, the fault's your own.

DOCTOR. To all my friends a burden grown.

ANSWER. Because to few you will be shewn.

Give them good wine, and meat to stuff,

You may have company enough.

DOCTOR. No more I hear my church's bell,

Than if it rang out for my knell.

ANSWER. Then write and read, 'twill do as well.

DOCTOR. At thunder now no more I start,

Than at the rumbling of a cart.

ANSWER. Think then of thunder when you f--t.

DOCTOR. Nay, what's incredible, alack!

No more I hear a woman's clack.

ANSWER. A woman's clack, if I have skill,

Sounds somewhat like a throwster's mill;

But louder than a bell, or thunder:

That does, I own, increase my wonder.

The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 1 · 第 195 / 243 题