Recaptured Rhymes Being a Batch of Political and Other Fugitives Arrested and Brought to Book. By H. D. Traill |
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LAPUTA OUTDONE. |
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 | Recaptured Rhymes |  |
LAPUTA OUTDONE.
Oh, Philosopher crazed from the Island of Crazes,
Explored and depicted by Jonathan Swift,
Let us hear what your judgments on us and our ways is—
Permit us your mental impressions to sift.
Explored and depicted by Jonathan Swift,
Let us hear what your judgments on us and our ways is—
Permit us your mental impressions to sift.
For we have our follies of wisdom fantastic,
Some high-philosophic, political some,
And would fain ascertain, in no spirit sarcastic,
If you, my dear pundit, can match them at home.
Some high-philosophic, political some,
And would fain ascertain, in no spirit sarcastic,
If you, my dear pundit, can match them at home.
When a man in Laputa falls sick unto danger,
Then is it the rule in that singular place
To throw up the window and ask the first stranger
To kindly come in and prescribe on the case?
Then is it the rule in that singular place
To throw up the window and ask the first stranger
To kindly come in and prescribe on the case?
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When in legal perplexities, slighter or deeper,
For counsel in law a Laputan applies,
Does he seek the next crossing and beg of its sweeper,
When business is done, to step round and advise?
For counsel in law a Laputan applies,
Does he seek the next crossing and beg of its sweeper,
When business is done, to step round and advise?
Are your pilots' certificates commonly given
To men who have not even looked on the seas?
Are your coachmen selected for not having driven?
Say, have you Laputans got customs like these?
To men who have not even looked on the seas?
Are your coachmen selected for not having driven?
Say, have you Laputans got customs like these?
You haven't? Then off with your bee-bearing bonnet,
Illustrious guest from Luggnaggian shores!
And down on your knee and do homage upon it
Profound to a State that is madder than yours!
Illustrious guest from Luggnaggian shores!
And down on your knee and do homage upon it
Profound to a State that is madder than yours!
For though we select not attorney, physician,
Or pilot who steers us, or coachman who drives,
From the ignorant crowd, who would gain erudition
At risk of our fortunes, our limbs, or our lives;
Or pilot who steers us, or coachman who drives,
From the ignorant crowd, who would gain erudition
At risk of our fortunes, our limbs, or our lives;
5
Yet this Ignorance dense that we do not let lead us
In private concerns, lest disaster befall,
This, that may not make wills for us, dose us, or bleed us
May rule us—the business that's hardest of all!
In private concerns, lest disaster befall,
This, that may not make wills for us, dose us, or bleed us
May rule us—the business that's hardest of all!
We say to It “Courage! Nay, go not so shyly!
In time you will master the work you are at;
Your country presents you her own corpus vile,
See, here is the commonweal, practise on that!
In time you will master the work you are at;
Your country presents you her own corpus vile,
See, here is the commonweal, practise on that!
“Away with the notion (we echo in chorus)
Of power withheld until knowledge be gained,”
(Too long, cry the carts, have the horses before us
Unjust and unworthy precedence obtained!)
Of power withheld until knowledge be gained,”
(Too long, cry the carts, have the horses before us
Unjust and unworthy precedence obtained!)
“The use of the scalpel in surgical functions
Will give you the skill of a surgeon professed,
And by much engine-driving at intricate junctions
One learns to drive engines along with the best.”
Will give you the skill of a surgeon professed,
And by much engine-driving at intricate junctions
One learns to drive engines along with the best.”
6
For is it not thus our political preachers
Discourse to us daily, in bidding us note
That “the franchise itself is the truest of teachers,”
That “voting instructs in the use of the vote”?
Discourse to us daily, in bidding us note
That “the franchise itself is the truest of teachers,”
That “voting instructs in the use of the vote”?
So, off with it! Off with your bee-bearing bonnet,
Illustrious guest from Luggnaggian shores!
And down on your knee, and do homage upon it
Profound to a State that is madder than yours!
Illustrious guest from Luggnaggian shores!
And down on your knee, and do homage upon it
Profound to a State that is madder than yours!
| Recaptured Rhymes | |