Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SIC SEMPER INSURANTIBUS, by MORRIS GILBERT BISHOP



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SIC SEMPER INSURANTIBUS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sombre-habited / one stood without my door
Last Line: The screams of one who ran to get himself insured.
Subject(s): Death; Fate; Dead, The; Destiny


Sombre-Habited
One stood without my door;
"Why comest thou?" I said,
"And what dost thou implore?"
"I bring thee messages," he cried,
"Of Fate no mortal can appease,
Of proud men humbled in their pride,
And of our twenty-year Endowment policies.

"Man springeth up as grass
And flourisheth a day,
But as the moments pass
He withereth away;
Bitter is man's unhappy durance
Ere into darkness he must go,
Unless protected by insurance.
The premiums of which are quite absurdly low.

"If the blind Furies come
With the abhorred shears,
Snipping off of some
Feet and hands and ears,
Exulting still and unafraid
They challenge Fate, unbowed, defiant,
Because their premiums are paid!
(This happened but last week to one delighted client.)"

"O voice of Fate," said I,
"How true it is, how true,
That Death is ever nigh --
Especially to you!
How swiftly might this club set free
The soul within its gaol immured -----"
He fled; there echoed distantly
The screams of one who ran to get himself insured.





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