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[Poems by Cranch in] The spirit of the fair

Tuesday, April 19, 1864. No. 13
Cranch, Christopher Pearse (1813-1892)

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JEFFERSON DAVIS, JOHN C. CALHOUN, AND THE REBELLION.
 
[Beelzebub, the god of flies, I would]
 
[Yet are this fly-god and his poisonous swarm]
 
[Oak, did I write? Say rather upas tree!]

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[Beelzebub, the god of flies, I would]

Beelzebub, the god of flies, I would
Embalm in sonnet-amber. Hear me, Muse!
Let not his wings, his horned head, the blood
Of martyrs sticking to his sting, excuse
This Southern traitor, who is wont to abuse
God's boundless patience and the pliant mood
Of ignorant man too long. I fain would use
This monster dragon-fly, and all his brood:
Shew him (in corpore vili) chained in verse
And pilloried in rhyme; anatomise
His heart, if heart he has, and see what breeds
About it; while the wondering universe,
Angels and men, shall marvel at the lies
That choke God's harvest with such baleful weeds.
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