 | The Poetical Works (1855) |  |
FRAGMENT.
[While to the unstudied lay I leaned my ear]
While to the unstudied lay I leaned my earFearful of noise, and covetous to hear,
A white-robed friar rolled majestic in,
Behind his belly, and his treble chin.
He trod a noisy step, ungain, uneven,
And showed a visage very fleshly given.
Alas! who can the ills of life foresee?
This holy limber lodged and stuck by me.
Next a gray friar came with studied grace,
A formal sadness hung upon his face,
Poor man, mistaken zeal enticed him on,
And shrunk my creature to a skeleton:
Oft on his eyeballs, as his fancy strayed,
The wild delirium of devotion played.
While Dominic on one side pressed with pride,
This pierced with carcass sharp my other side.
| The Poetical Works (1855) | |