There haunts in Time's bare house an active ghost, Enamoured of his name, Polonius. He moves small fingers much, and all his speech Is like a sampler of precisest words, Set in the pattern of a simpleton. His mirth floats eerily down chill corridors; His sigh -- it is a sound that loves a keyhole; His tenderness a faint court-tarnished thing; His wisdom prates as from a wicker cage; His very belly is a pompous nought; His eye a page that hath forgot his errand. Yet in his bran -- his spiritual bran -- Lies hid a child's demure, small, silver whistle Which, to his horror, God blows, unawares. And sets men staring. It is sad to think, Might he but don indeed thin flesh and blood, And pace important to Law's inmost room, He would see, much marvelling, one immensely wise, Named Bacon, who, at sound of his youth's step, Would turn and call him Cousin -- for the likeness. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN A RAILROAD STATION by SARA TEASDALE THE LAST LEAF by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES A MAN BY THE NAME OF BOLUS by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY A MORNING THOUGHT by EDWARD ROWLAND SILL EPIGRAM by FRANCOIS GUILLAUME JEAN STANISLAS ANDRIEUX IF ONLY THOU ART TRUE by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |