Page:The Glugs of Gosh (C. J. Dennis, 1917).djvu/77

Rh But the wind-borne leaves await their chance And round him gaily dance. 

Now, trouble came to the land of Gosh: The fear of battle, and anxious days; And the Swanks were called to the great King Splosh, Who said that their system would not wash, And ordered other ways. Then the Lord High Swank stretched forth a paw, And penned a minute re the law. And the Swanks, the Swanks, the other Swanks, The brother Swanks said, "Haw!" These keen, resourceful, unremorseful. Forceful Swanks said, "Haw!"

Then Splosh, the king, in a royal rage, He smote his throne as he thundered "Bosh! In the whole wide land is there not one sage With a cool, clear brain, who'll straight engage To sweep the Swanks from Gosh?" But the Lord High Stodge, from where he stood, Cried, "Barley! . . . Guard your livelihood!" And, quick as light, the teeming Swanks, The scheming Swanks touched wood. Sages, plainly, labour vainly When the Swanks touch wood.