FERISHTAH'S FANCIES.
105
12. A BEAN-STRIPE: ALSO APPLE-EATING.
"Look, I strew beans" . . .
(Ferishtah, we premise,
Strove this way with a scholar's cavilment
Who put the peevish question: "Sir, be frank!
A good thing or a bad thing—Life is which?
Shine and shade, happiness and misery
Battle it out there: which force beats, I ask?
If I pick beans from out a bushelful—
This one, this other,―then demand of thee
What colour names each justly in the main,—
(Ferishtah, we premise,
Strove this way with a scholar's cavilment
Who put the peevish question: "Sir, be frank!
A good thing or a bad thing—Life is which?
Shine and shade, happiness and misery
Battle it out there: which force beats, I ask?
If I pick beans from out a bushelful—
This one, this other,―then demand of thee
What colour names each justly in the main,—
