University of Virginia Library

[Yon clock—the Dutchman in the window there]

Yon clock—the Dutchman in the window there,
With broad-brimmed hat and spacious boots and breeches,
Who gazes forth with ever-brazen stare—
This lesson to my comprehension teaches:
He sembles well the ones of human kind,
—The host of epicurean sinners,
Who seem to have one only thing in mind,—
A good appreciation of their dinners.
He thrusts his rotund form obscenely out,
The dial on his breast his chief attraction,
And rolls his eyes complacently about,
As though he'd done some meritorious action;
But here's the moral point of this my rhyme:
His thought is on his stomach all the time.