Page:New poems and variant readings, Stevenson, 1918.djvu/144

124 Kind and unkind, his Maker's final freak,

Part we deride the child, part dread the antique!

See where his gang, like frogs, among the dew

Crouch at their duty, an unquiet crew;

Adjust their staring kilts; and their swift eyes

Turn still to him who sits to supervise.

He in the midst, perched on a fallen tree,

Eyes them at labour; and, guitar on knee,

Now ministers alarm, now scatters joy,

Now twangs a halting chord, now tweaks a boy.

Thorough in all, my resolute vizier

Plays both the despot and the volunteer,

Exacts with fines obedience to my laws,

And for his music, too, exacts applause.

The Adorner of the uncomely—those

Amidst whose tall battalions goes

Her pretty person out and in

All day with an endearing din,

Of censure and encouragement;

And when all else is tried in vain

See her sit down and weep again.

She weeps to conquer;

She varies on her grenadiers

From satire up to girlish tears!