III
On this wise: that by uttermost good Forune
I met you walking out in London city,
Even when from Heaven I did not dare importune
Hardly to pass your house! The Gods took pity
They whirled us in a chariot of fire
About the highest heavens for many an age!
So Regent's Park may seem to hot desire;
So the archangel gets a cabman's wage;
So all the aeons that pass still leave one time
To take one's lunch at the appointed hour—
This is the difference between prose and rime
And this the great gulf fixed for leaf and flower.
The British public grunts and growls and grovels,
Swilling its hogwash of neurotic novels.
I met you walking out in London city,
Even when from Heaven I did not dare importune
Hardly to pass your house! The Gods took pity
They whirled us in a chariot of fire
About the highest heavens for many an age!
So Regent's Park may seem to hot desire;
So the archangel gets a cabman's wage;
So all the aeons that pass still leave one time
To take one's lunch at the appointed hour—
This is the difference between prose and rime
And this the great gulf fixed for leaf and flower.
The British public grunts and growls and grovels,
Swilling its hogwash of neurotic novels.
— 53 —
