Matin Bells and Scarlet and Gold By "F. Harald Williams"[i.e. F. W. O. Ward]. First Edition |
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“SATAN” HARRY. |
 | Matin Bells and Scarlet and Gold |  |
“SATAN” HARRY.
“Satan” strolls gaily drest in the Whitechapel style
And wears gloves and a flower and elegant smile,
With his oily insidious manner,
And red neck-kerchief fragrant of grease and of guile
That goes flaming before like a banner.
He is soapy and sly
With a glass in his eye,
Weaving webs for the fly
As a spider that's spinning its thread,
Always eager to marry
And devour the poor bride for the dead—
But his true name is Harry.
And wears gloves and a flower and elegant smile,
With his oily insidious manner,
And red neck-kerchief fragrant of grease and of guile
That goes flaming before like a banner.
He is soapy and sly
With a glass in his eye,
Weaving webs for the fly
As a spider that's spinning its thread,
Always eager to marry
And devour the poor bride for the dead—
But his true name is Harry.
514
Honey-wiled, with cheap jewels and sugar-plum bait,
Steeped in fraud to his finger tips well he can wait
Till the victim is charmed, if he chooses,
While the net of entanglements closes in strait
With the chance which the petulant loses;
He is affable, smart
In the devil's best part,
And despises all heart;
And he lives (as his lord) many lives
A wild rake and a rover,
And has wedded (they say) twenty wives
And still sighs for fresh clover.
Steeped in fraud to his finger tips well he can wait
Till the victim is charmed, if he chooses,
While the net of entanglements closes in strait
With the chance which the petulant loses;
He is affable, smart
In the devil's best part,
And despises all heart;
And he lives (as his lord) many lives
A wild rake and a rover,
And has wedded (they say) twenty wives
And still sighs for fresh clover.
He is craftily cruel and cloyingly sweet
On the quest for stray maidens he watches to meet,
But is carefully damnably sober,
Wide awake for his prey till she falls at his feet
As the withered leaves fall in October;
He is ready of speech,
And can beg or beseech
With new stories for each,
And besmears them before he eats up
With his slimy addresses,
Though with venom dropt in the gold cup,
Like a serpent's caresses.
On the quest for stray maidens he watches to meet,
But is carefully damnably sober,
Wide awake for his prey till she falls at his feet
As the withered leaves fall in October;
He is ready of speech,
And can beg or beseech
With new stories for each,
And besmears them before he eats up
With his slimy addresses,
Though with venom dropt in the gold cup,
Like a serpent's caresses.
While so heartless he still has a weakness for “kids,”
Though his hands grip their spoil like the closed coffin lids,
And in tender directions are chary,
But to Mary and Jack (if no pleasure forbids)
He is kind and loves both—but most Mary;
He gives children his pence,
And for all his defence
Is no idle pretence;
And for them he forsakes his foul trail
Just to fetch and to carry,
He will buy pretty toys if they ail—
Yet they call him “Old Harry.”
Though his hands grip their spoil like the closed coffin lids,
And in tender directions are chary,
But to Mary and Jack (if no pleasure forbids)
He is kind and loves both—but most Mary;
He gives children his pence,
And for all his defence
Is no idle pretence;
And for them he forsakes his foul trail
Just to fetch and to carry,
He will buy pretty toys if they ail—
Yet they call him “Old Harry.”
| Matin Bells and Scarlet and Gold | |