Poems

<h4><SPAN name="A_BALLADE_OF_A_BOOK-REVIEWER" id="A_BALLADE_OF_A_BOOK-REVIEWER"></SPAN>A BALLADE OF A BOOK-REVIEWER</h4> <p>I have not read a rotten page<br/> Of "Sex-Hate" or "The Social Test,"<br/> And here comes "Husks" and "Heritage"....<br/> O Moses, give us all a rest!<br/> "Ethics of Empire"!... I protest<br/> I will not even cut the strings,<br/> I'll read "Jack Redskin on the Quest"<br/> And feed my brain with better things.<br/> <br/> Somebody wants a Wiser Age<br/> (He also wants me to invest);<br/> Somebody likes the Finnish Stage<br/> Because the Jesters do not jest;<br/> And grey with dust is Dante's crest,<br/> The bell of Rabelais soundless swings;<br/> And the winds come out of the west<br/> And feed my brain with better things.<br/> <br/> Lord of our laughter and our rage.<br/> Look on us with our sins oppressed!<br/> I, too, have trodden mine heritage,<br/> Wickedly wearying of the best.<br/> Burn from my brain and from my breast<br/> Sloth, and the cowardice that clings,<br/> And stiffness and the soul's arrest:<br/> And feed my brain with better things.<br/> <br/> ENVOI<br/> <br/> Prince, you are host and I am guest,<br/> Therefore I shrink from cavillings....<br/> But I should have that fizz suppressed<br/> And feed my brain with better things.<br/> <br/><br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />