One of the ones that Midas touched
Who failed to touch us all
Was that confiding Prodigal
The reeling Oriole -
So drunk he disavows it
With badinage divine -
So dazzling we mistake him
For an alighting Mine -
A Pleader - a Dissembler -
An Epicure - a Thief -
Betimes an Oratorio -
An Ecstasy in chief -
The Jesuit of Orchards
He cheats as he enchants
Of an entire Attar
For his decamping wants -
The splendor of a Burmah
The Meteor of Birds,
Departing like a Pageant
Of Ballads and of Bards -
I never thought that Jason sought
For any Golden Fleece
But then I am a rural man
With thoughts that make for Peace -
But if there were a Jason,
Tradition bear with me
Behold his lost Aggrandizement
Upon the Apple Tree -
|