X
To-morrow is the day when Christ our Lord
Rose from the dead; therefore, the shops are shut.
Men may get drunk, or syphilized, or bored,
Robbed, murdered, or regenerated—but!
But they must not get letters, be amused,
Or do a thing they want to do till Monday;
Whence comes the universally-diffused
And steady popularity of Sunday.
And yet I grumble! any other day
I might receive a message from my Lola:
"The siege is raised. Meet me as usual!" Nay!
For me the sofa and Verlaine or Zola,
Till Christ's affair is over, and the town
Runs a young resurrection of its own.
Rose from the dead; therefore, the shops are shut.
Men may get drunk, or syphilized, or bored,
Robbed, murdered, or regenerated—but!
But they must not get letters, be amused,
Or do a thing they want to do till Monday;
Whence comes the universally-diffused
And steady popularity of Sunday.
And yet I grumble! any other day
I might receive a message from my Lola:
"The siege is raised. Meet me as usual!" Nay!
For me the sofa and Verlaine or Zola,
Till Christ's affair is over, and the town
Runs a young resurrection of its own.
— 44 —
