Page:Hermione and her little group of serious thinkers (1923, c1916).djvu/39

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Fothergil Finch, the Poet of Revolt

tice, and Smugness, and the Established Order, and Complacence. He is forever being a martyr to the New and True in Art and Life.

Last night he read me his latest poem—one of his greatest, he says—in which he tries to tell just what his Real Self is. It goes:

Look at Me!

Behold, I am founding a New Movement!

Observe me…. I am in Revolt!

I revolt!

Now persecute me, persecute me, damn you, persecute me, curse you, persecute me!

Philistine,

Bourgeois,

Slave,

Serf,

Capitalist,

Respectabilities that you are,

Persecute me!

Bah!

You ask me, do you, what I am in revolt against?

Against you, fool, dolt, idiot, against you, against everything!

Against Heaven, Hell and punctuation… against Life, Death, rhyme and rhythm…

Persecute me, now, persecute me, curse you, persecute me!

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