Jump to content

Page:Near and Far (Blunden).djvu/17

From Wikisource
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Be shipwrecked there!        Now in the South of China,A certain city's numerous populationBoth male and female, though they use the gaitThat commonly is used in Paul's Church-Yard,Appear to strangers walking on their heads,Inverted. O, but one of many marvels.Blest be the Globe! O that the Lord would grant meBefore I die a journey into Denmark,There to survey the famous Globes in Gottorp,And honour Tycho Brahe. But less cheerlyWould I in New Castile draw near that LakeWhich in presentiment of hurricanoesRaves at the sky, and howls man on to doom.These truths surpass all fiction; yet truth bidsI should not daub where she herself is plain.You have heard high legends of the Elysian Fields,The poets' vaunted theme; but, in the fa&,They ate an ordinary plot of ground,Where higglers tie the goat or panniered ass,Near Naples.        I must, in parenthesis,Observe, that the opening mind's credulityStands in much danger from these plaguy poets.Avoid their siren song, boys; learn betimesTo shun the glittering counterfeit of rhymes.

13