Page:Betelguese, a trip through hell.djvu/62

54 The kings of Finance, skinn'd and shorn,

Are list'ners in these halls of gloom.

Their deeds are read, they heave giant sighs,

Thumb-screws and wracks rake skin and bone,

In cajons bleak, each corpse forlorn,

Is sunk as trophies of king Doom.

No Depews sell their patron's love,

No faffling Platts guard treasures strong,

No Parkers, Roots,—The crafty things!

Betray a country's hope and trust.

No palm is brought them by a dove,

No minions shant their praise in song,

The poisoned zimbs add to the stings

Of conscience lost and raging lust.

Each one-time king of earthly fold

Is skinn'd alive then cooked in oil; Some frazzled Astor dames and fools

Now eat their claws and chew a bone.

A monarch known as Leopold,

Writhes in a cavern's squeezing coil; Here man-born helms are but the tools