The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme The witch of Shiloh, the last of the Wampanoags, the gentle earl, the enchanted voyage |
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 | The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme |  |
XXV
“Well, after that the fight was easy;
The spooks were old, the dragons wheezy;
The billy-goats were clumsy hitters
An' kinder tottlish on their bobbins;
The tomcats frowzy, starvelin' critters,
A poorish match for mice an' robins;
From whence I jedge that Satan's legions
Are nourished purty much on shadders;
An' probably the brimstone regions
Don't run so rich as Shiloh medders.
The spooks were old, the dragons wheezy;
The billy-goats were clumsy hitters
An' kinder tottlish on their bobbins;
The tomcats frowzy, starvelin' critters,
A poorish match for mice an' robins;
From whence I jedge that Satan's legions
Are nourished purty much on shadders;
An' probably the brimstone regions
Don't run so rich as Shiloh medders.
“At any rate, the spirit bodies
Went down as easily as toddies.
I found it ruther fun than trouble
To bust their glory like a bubble,
An' worked destruction on their models
Till every rood was heaped with noddles,
All dribblin smoke from mouths an' noses
Like jackolanterns lit with oakum,
Some smilin' peaceable as Moses,
Some snappin' when I went to poke 'em,
As though, perhaps, some perished hardened
An' others longin' to be pardoned.
Went down as easily as toddies.
I found it ruther fun than trouble
To bust their glory like a bubble,
An' worked destruction on their models
Till every rood was heaped with noddles,
All dribblin smoke from mouths an' noses
Like jackolanterns lit with oakum,
30
Some snappin' when I went to poke 'em,
As though, perhaps, some perished hardened
An' others longin' to be pardoned.
“In twenty minutes Tophet's embers
Conceded that the fight was over;
The biggest part had lost their members,
The rest had skittered off to cover.
Conceded that the fight was over;
The biggest part had lost their members,
The rest had skittered off to cover.
| The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme | |