 | Later Lyrics |  |
142
KENYON'S LEGACY.
Good Johnny Kenyon's gone and done
The best thing with his money:
He's left it for two Poet-Bees,
Who make the wasp-world honey.
The best thing with his money:
He's left it for two Poet-Bees,
Who make the wasp-world honey.
Unthrifty work,—a world has wants,
A market-man provides it;
Small wages has the working bee,
Or the good God who guides it.
A market-man provides it;
Small wages has the working bee,
Or the good God who guides it.
But Kenyon knew the market-men,
And so bestowed his money,
That our two rifled Bees might live
From henceforth on their honey.
And so bestowed his money,
That our two rifled Bees might live
From henceforth on their honey.
[OMITTED]
143
In Casa Guidi, where they dwell,
They keep the tea-pot waiting:
The precious vapor spends itself
For their poetic prating.
They keep the tea-pot waiting:
The precious vapor spends itself
For their poetic prating.
I know a Western dame who keeps
The villa styled Negroni,
And whose well-regulated cups
Are hot to friend and crony.
The villa styled Negroni,
And whose well-regulated cups
Are hot to friend and crony.
She says our poets enter like
A church who brings his steeple;
With visions of the gods they praise,
They yawn at common people.
A church who brings his steeple;
With visions of the gods they praise,
They yawn at common people.
When they in turn invite at home,
The chairs are queer and rotten,
The board is bare, the talk divine,
The tea-pot long forgotten.
The chairs are queer and rotten,
The board is bare, the talk divine,
The tea-pot long forgotten.
144
John Kenyon was an Englishman,
And understood the duty
England expects from English wives,
Who stand for thrift and beauty.
And understood the duty
England expects from English wives,
Who stand for thrift and beauty.
He did not score it in his will,
For that had been ungracious;
He told it not by word of mouth,—
Dependence thrice fallacious.
For that had been ungracious;
He told it not by word of mouth,—
Dependence thrice fallacious.
“'Tis in the fitness of the thing,
And they, be sure, will feel it;
Or else some medial-rapping friend
For sixpence may reveal it.
And they, be sure, will feel it;
Or else some medial-rapping friend
For sixpence may reveal it.
Aurora! dry your pen at night;
Repose shall help your dreaming;
Enjoy your victuals from this hour,
And keep your tea-pot steaming.”
Repose shall help your dreaming;
Enjoy your victuals from this hour,
And keep your tea-pot steaming.”
[OMITTED]
145
Like those long-exiled Empire-bees,
Who now, to fortune coming,
Poise on the topmost bough, and fill
Your Europe with their humming;
Who now, to fortune coming,
Poise on the topmost bough, and fill
Your Europe with their humming;
So may you, gold-emblazoned, rest
On velvet pall and mantle,
Or where luxurious drapings hide
Time's monitors ungentle.
On velvet pall and mantle,
Or where luxurious drapings hide
Time's monitors ungentle.
Or better, build a crystal hive,
With this remembrance sunny:
“One good man helps the bankrupt world
To pay our priceless honey.”
With this remembrance sunny:
“One good man helps the bankrupt world
To pay our priceless honey.”
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