Page:Poetry, a magazine of verse, Volume 7 (October 1915-March 1916).djvu/385

All Life in a Life

With laborers, carpenters, seamen And some loose women. And certain notable sinners Gave him dinners. And he went to weddings, and to places where youth slakes Its thirst fur happiness, and they served him cakes And wine wherever he went. And he ate and drank, and spent His time in feasting and in telling stories, And singing poems of lilies and of trees— With crowds of people crowded around his knees— That searched with lightning secrets hidden Of life and of life's glories, Of death and of the soul's way after death.


 * Time makes amends usually for scandals breath,

Which touched him to his earthly ruination. But this city had a Civic Federation, And a certain social order which intrigues Through churches, courts, with an endless ramification Of money and morals to save itself. And this city had a Bar Association, Also its Public Efficiency Leagues For laying honest men upon the shelf While making private pelf Secure and free to increase. And this city had illustrious Pharisees,