As he obtains such an enchanted skin, That bullets cast aright could ne'er get in; Even so thou, Monsieur, tempered hast thy name, That to dispraise thee most is yet no shame; To curse is to befriend, who, like a Jew, Art both a vagabond and moneyed too; Who feed'st on Hebrew roots, and, like a tare, Unbid, unwelcome, thrivest everywhere; Who mak'st all letters by thy guttural, And brings the conjugations to Kall; Who though thou live by grammar rules, we see Thou break'st all canons of morality; And as far as that threadbare cloak of thine Is out of fashion, dost from man decline; And com'st as near a wit, as doth a rat Match in procerity Mount Ararat; And art as fit to be a brewer's punk, As Sumerburn is valiant when he's drunk. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE HOMECOMING by THOMAS HARDY GOD'S DETERMINATIONS: THE JOY OF CHURCH FELLOWSHIP RIGHTLY ATTENDED by EDWARD TAYLOR EARLY DEATH AND FAME by MATTHEW ARNOLD A PASSSGE TO ITALY by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |