  Shall I sonnet-sing you about myself?25 Do I live in a house you would like to see? Is it scant of gear, has it store of pelf? "Unlock my heart with a sonnet-key"? Invite the world, as my betters have done? "Take notice: this building remains on view,30 Its suites of reception every one, Its private apartment and bedroom too; "For a ticket, apply to the Publisher." No: thanking the public, I must decline. A peep through my window, if folk prefer;35 But, please you, no foot over threshold of mine! I have mixed with a crowd and heard free talk In a foreign land where an earthquake chanced And a house stood gaping, naught to balk Man's eye wherever he gazed or glanced.40 The whole of the frontage shaven sheer, The inside gaped; exposed to day, Bare, as the palm of your hand, it lay. The owner? Oh, he had been crushed, no doubt!45 "Odd tables and chairs for a man of wealth! What a parcel of musty old books about! He smoked—no wonder he lost his health! "I doubt if he bathed before he dressed. A brasier?—the pagan, he burned perfumes!50 You see it is proved, what the neighbors guessed: His wife and himself had separate rooms." Friends, the goodman of the house at least Kept house to himself till an earthquake came; 'Tis the fall of its frontage permits you feast55 On the inside arrangement you praise or blame. Outside should suffice for evidence; And whoso desires to penetrate Deeper, must dive by the spirit-sense— No optics like yours, at any rate!60 "Hoity-toity! A street to explore, Your house the exception! 'With this same key Shakespeare unlocked his heart,' once more!" Did Shakespeare? If so, the less Shakespeare he! |
|
