Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BUCOLIC COMEDY: FOX TROT, by EDITH SITWELL


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BUCOLIC COMEDY: FOX TROT, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Old / sir / faulk, / tall as a stork
Last Line: Lest the flood -- the flood -- the flood begin again through these!
Subject(s): Mary Ii, Queen Of England (1662-1694); William Iii, King Of England (1650-1702)


OLD
Sir
Faulk,
Tall as a stork,
Before the honeyed fruits of dawn were ripe, would walk,
And stalk with a gun
The reynard-coloured sun,
Among the pheasant-feathered corn the unicorn has torn, forlorn the
Smock-faced sheep
Sit
And
Sleep;
Periwigged as William and Mary, weep . . .
"Sally, Mary, Mattie, what's the matter, why cry?"
The huntsman and the reynard-coloured sun and I sigh;
"Oh, the nursery-maid Meg
With a leg like a peg
Chased the feathered dreams like hens, and when they laid an egg
In the sheepskin
Meadows
Where,
The serene King James would steer,
Horse and hounds, then he
From the shade of a tree
Picked it up as spoil to boil for nursery tea," said the mourners. In the
Corn, towers strain,
Feathered tall as a crane,
And whistling down the feathered rain, old Noah goes again --
An old dull mome
With a head like a pome,
Seeing the world as a bare egg,
Laid by the feathered air; Meg
Would beg three of these
For the nursery teas
Of Japhet, Shem, and Ham; she gave it
Underneath the trees,
Where the boiling
Water
Hissed,
Like the goose-king's feathered daughter -- kissed,
Pot and pan and copper kettle
Put upon their proper mettle,
Lest the Flood -- the Flood -- the Flood begin again through these!





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