Classic Poem

If Mr. Bright retiring does not please
And Mr. Gladstone staying gives offence,
What can man do which is not one of these?
Use your own common sense.

Yet he's a brave man who abjures his cause
For conscience' sake: let byegones be byegones:
Not this among the makers of our laws
The least & and last of Johns.

If all our byegones could be piled on shelves
High out of reach of penny-line Tyrtaeus!
If only all of us could see ourselves
As others see us!