Page:Two Mock Epics (Hanuman and Tantum Religio), Lyrics, Post Meridian Verse, The Turret Captain's Toast and other Verses.pdf/19

 What a host of needy mimes flock round him

From the east-end and the west,

Goddesses of fame and money avid,

Ballerine light of vest—

With an air or pirouette who ponder

All thy diamond shoals to net Golconda,

All thy wealth Benares to enchest.

Prima donnas’ golden heads are running

On a rain of golden posies

In their laps, of topaz, sapphires, rubies,

While the ballet sylph in hose is

Panting for some spark in pearl-sewn turban,

Or with supple thumb prepares suburban

Pinches for proud Brahmins’ august noses.

Scarce the ship, that ark of art, suffices

In its cells to stow away

All that world of lath and plaster fashioned,

Which to India now would stray:

All that medley—boxes, trunks, portmanteaus,

Wardrobes, cases lined with unsold cantos,

Rouge pots, hair dyes, wigs red, black and grey.

Ship of Argonauts—with song resounding,

Boldly plough the furrowy blue!

Hanuman’s new master is thy captain:

At his side, a comrade true,

Bides the ape, oh! how the small eye sparkles

As unfolding free around it darkles nine

Ocean’s boundless zones of azure hue.