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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ENIGMA: 3 by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL

First Line: I AM A NATIVE OF MANY A LAND
Last Line: I BEAR WHAT MUST PASS IN A SINGLE HOUR.
Subject(s): TABLES;
I AM a native of many a land,
Of Norway's forests, of India's strand;
And beautiful England's smiles and tears
Have ripened and watered my early years.
I am found near the lowliest cottage fire,
And I dwell in the solemn cathedral choir,
The royal hall I am sure to grace,
And always in Parliament find a place;
Around me oft gather the great of the land,
In front of the Queen I audaciously stand;
And Arthur himself, in days of yore,
Owed half his renown to me or more.
As a quadruped oftenest I have been,
One-legged, or three-footed, or legless I'm seen.
The schoolboy I help through his hard calculation,
When working a question in multiplication.
Since the era of Moses (who, truth to speak,
In a manner unfitting his character meek,
Most shamefully used me), until quite of late,
I've always been sober, and still, and sedate;
But now I am playing such wondrous vagaries
That whether Beelzebub, witches, or fairies,
Electric attraction, or galvanic power,
Have thus turned my head, up to this present hour,
The wisest and cleverest brains of the day,
Quite out of their depth, are unable to say.
In olden days to my care were confided
The laws by which monarchs and subjects were guided;
The records of feats of chivalry,
Or of deeds of blood were preserved by me:
But now having leaves, though, alas! no flower,
I bear what must pass in a single hour.



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