Page:Carroll - Rhyme and Reason.djvu/225

Rh My First is followed by a bird:
 * My Second by believers

In magic art: my simple Third Follows, too often, hopes absurd
 * And plausible deceivers.

My First to get at wisdom tries–
 * A failure melancholy!

My Second men revered as wise: My Third from heights of wisdom flies
 * To depths of frantic folly.

My First is ageing day by day:
 * My Second’s age is ended:

My Third enjoys an age, they say, That never seems to fade away,
 * Through centuries extended.

My Whole? I need a poet’s pen
 * To paint her myriad phases:

The monarch, and the slave, of men– A mountain-summit, and a den
 * Of dark and deadly mazes–