POEMS OLD AND NEW
They'll cough in the ink to the world's end ;
Wear out the carpet with their shoes
Earning respect; have no strange friend ;
If they have sinned nobody knows.
Lord, what would they say
Should their Catullus walk that way ?
W. B. YEATS
JACK
i
EVERY village has its Jack, but no village ever had
quite so fine a Jack as ours :—
So picturesque,
Versatile,
Irresponsible, 10
Powerful,
Hedonistic,
And lovable a Jack as ours.
II
How Jack lived none know, for he rarely did any work.
True, he set night-lines for eels, and invariably
caught one,
Often two,
Sometimes three ;
While very occasionally he had a day's harvesting or
hay-making.
And yet he always found enough money for tobacco,
With a little over for beer, though he was no soaker. 20
in
Jack had a wife.
A soulless, savage woman she was, who disapproved
volubly of his idle ways.
But the only result was to make him stay out longer,
(Like Rip Van Winkle).
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