Page:Lapsus Calami 1st Ed.djvu/20

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8

The Grand Old Pipe

I have ceased to believe in the Leader
Whom I loved in the days of my youth:
Is he, or am I the seceder?
It were hard to determine the truth.
But my enmity is not impassioned:
I'll forgive and forget if I can,
And I'm smoking a pipe which is fashioned
Like the face of the Grand Old Man.

It was made in the days when his collars
Were still of the usual size,
And before the recipients of dollars
Were known as his trusted allies:
But I love, as I lounge in the garden,
Or work at my chambers, to gaze
At the face of the master of Hawarden,
As he was in the Grand Old Days.

My pipe was my one consolation
When its antitype kindled the flame
Which threatened the brave population
Of Ulster with ruin and shame:
I forgot that our ruler was dealing
With scamps of the Sheridan type,
While the true orange colour was stealing
O'er the face of my Grand Old Pipe.