Classic Poem

There's a goat in the vineyard! an unbidden guest —
He comes here to devour and to trample;
If he keep not aloof, I must make, I protest,
Of the trespassing rogue an example.
Let this stone, which I fling at his ignorant head,
Deep imprest in his skull leave its moral, —
That a four-footed beast 'mid the vines should not tread,
Nor attempt with great Bacchus to quarrel.

Should the god on his car, to which tigers are yoked,
Chance to pass and espy such a scandal,
Quick he'd mark his displeasure — most justly provoked
At the sight of this four-footed Vandal.
To encounter his wrath, or be found on his path,
In the spring when his godship is sober,
Silly goat! would be rash; — and you fear not the lash
Of the god in the month of October!

In each bunch, thus profaned by an insolent tooth,
There has perish'd a goblet of nectar;
Fitting vengeance will follow those gambols uncouth,
For the grape has a jealous protector.
On the altar of Bacchus a victim must bleed,
To avert a more serious disaster;
Lest the ire of the deity visit the deed
Of the goat on his negligent master.