Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, RUMOUR AND SLANDER, by ROBERT POLLOCK


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

RUMOUR AND SLANDER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Rumour was the messenger
Last Line: Appear'd ten thousand slanders, all his own.
Alternate Author Name(s): Pollok, Robert
Subject(s): Defamation; Rumors; Slander; Libel


RUMOUR was the messenger
Of defamation, and so swift that none
Could be the first to tell an evil tale;
And was, withal, so infamous for lies,
That he who of her sayings, on his creed,
The fewest enter'd, was deem'd wisest man.
The fool, and many who had credit, too,
For wisdom, grossly swallow'd all she said,
Unsifted; and although, at every word,
They heard her contradict herself, and saw
Hourly they were imposed upon and mock'd,
Yet still they ran to hear her speak, and stared,
And wonder'd much, and stood aghast, and said
It could not be; and, while they blush'd for shame
At their own faith, and seem'd to doubt, believed,
And whom they met, with many sanctions, told.
So did experience fail to teach; -- so hard
It was to learn this simple truth, -- confirm'd
At every corner by a thousand proofs, --
That common fame most impudently lied.
'Twas slander fill'd her mouth with lying words,
Slander, the foulest whelp of sin. The man
In whom this spirit enter'd was undone.
His tongue was set on fire of hell, his heart
Was black as death, his legs were faint with haste
To propagate the lie his soul had framed,
His pillow was the peace of families
Destroy'd, the sigh of innocence reproach'd,
Broken friendships, and the strife of brotherhoods,
Yet did he spare his sleep, and hear the clock
Number the midnight watches, on his bed,
Devising mischief more; and early rose,
And made most hellish meals of good men's names.
From door to door you might have seen him speed,
Or placed amidst a group of gaping fools,
And whispering in their ears with his foul lips.
Peace fled the neighbourhood in which he made
His haunts; and, like a moral pestilence,
Before his breath the healthy shoots and blooms
Of social joy and happiness decay'd.
Fools only in his company were seen,
And those forsaken of God, and to themselves
Given up. The prudent shunn'd him and his house
As one who had a deadly moral plague.
And fain would all have shunn'd him at the day
Of judgment; but in vain. All who gave ear
With greediness, or wittingly their tongues
Made herald to his lies, around him wail'd;
While on his face, thrown back by injured men,
In characters of ever-blushing shame,
Appear'd ten thousand slanders, all his own.





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