 | The poetical works of John Godfrey Saxe |  |
219
THE NEWS.
The News, indeed!—pray do you call it newsWhen shallow noddles publish shallow views?
Pray, is it news that turnips should be bred
As large and hollow as the owner's head?
News, that a clerk should rob his master's hoard,
Whose meagre salary scarcely pays his board?
News, that two knaves, their spurious friendship o'er,
Should tell the truths which they concealed before?
News, that a maniac, weary of his life,
Should end his sorrows with a rope or knife?
News, that a wife should violate the vows
That bind her, loveless, to a tyrant spouse?
News, that a daughter cheats paternal rule,
And weds a scoundrel to escape a fool?—
The news, indeed!—Such matters are as old
As sin and folly, rust and must and mould!
| The poetical works of John Godfrey Saxe | |