Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PRESTO FURIOSO, by OWEN SEAMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PRESTO FURIOSO, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Spontaneous us!
Last Line: Good old eagle!
Subject(s): Army Life; Poetry & Poets; Whitman, Walt (1819-1891); Drills & Minor Tactics


SPONTANEOUS Us!
O my Camarados! I have no delicatesse as a diplomat, but I go blind on Libertad!
Give me the flap-flap of the soaring Eagle's pinions!
Give me the tail of the British lion tied in a knot inextricable, not to be
solved anyhow!
Give me a standing army (I say "give me," because just at present we want one
badly, armies being often useful in time of war).

I see our superb fleet (I take it that we are to have a superb fleet built
almost immediately);
I observe the crews prospectively; they are constituted of various
nationalities, not necessarily American;
I see them sling the slug and chew the plug;
I hear the drum begin to hum;

Both the above rhymes are purely accidental, and contrary to my principles.
We shall wipe the floor of the mill-pond with the scalps of able-bodied British
tars!
I see Professor Edison about to arrange for us a torpedo-hose on wheels,
likewise an infernal electro-semaphore;
I see henry Irving dead sick and declining to play Corporal Brewster;
Cornell, I yell! I yell Cornell!

I note the Manhattan boss leaving his dry-goods store and investing in a small
Gatling-gun and a ten-cent banner;
I further note the Identity evolved out of forty-four spacious and thoughtful
States;
I note Canada as shortly to be merged in that Identity; similarly Van Diemen's
Land, Gibraltar, and Stratford-on-Avon;
Briefly, I see creation whipped!

O ye Colonels! I am with you (I too am a Colonel and on the pension-list);
I drink to the lot of you; to Colonels Cleveland, Hitt, Vanderbilt, Chauncey M.
Depew, O'Donovan Rossa, and the late Colonel Monroe;
I drink an egg-flip, a morning-caress, an eye-opener, a maiden-bosom, a vermuth-
cocktail, three sherry-cobblers, and a gin-sling!
Good old Eagle!





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