Classic Poem

LINES WRITTEN FOR MISS STORY'S ALBUM

The armless Vatican Cupid
Hangs down his beautiful head;
For the priests have got him in prison,
And Psyche long has been dead.

But see, his shaven oppressors
Begin to quake and disband!
And The Times , that bright Apollo,
Proclaims salvation at hand.

" And what," cries Cupid, " will save us?"
Says Apollo: " Modernise Rome!
What inns! Your streets, too, how narrow!
Too much of palace and dome!

" O learn of London, whose paupers
Are not pushed out by the swells!
Wide streets with fine double trottoirs;
And then — the London hotels!"

The armless Vatican Cupid
Hangs down his head as before.
Through centuries past it has hung so,
And will through centuries more.