Page:Two Mock Epics (Hanuman and Tantum Religio), Lyrics, Post Meridian Verse, The Turret Captain's Toast and other Verses.pdf/30

 Chewed and rechewed; what stiff bows to the ladies!

My humble thanks for such a life as that!

No, no, these mountebanks had reason greater

To fly to us, here rocked in freedom’s arms

From empty care and self-inflicted fetter

To mother Nature’s breast and life’s pure charms.

To think of us going mimicking these flunkeys!

Rather should they conform to us,—to monkeys!

We’ve stayed as Nature’s soul—as wisest essence

Has fashioned us; why fash ourselves because

Man’s farcicalities in effervescence

Have marred the jollier scheme of heavenly laws.

Disdain your tail, my lord, if you think fit,

I wear mine with delight—I’m proud of it:

Look at its tapering form so gently sportive,

The grace and softness of each supple motion,

In every one it wakens warm devotion

Whose natural sense of beauty’s not abortive.

Its use for life on trees can’t be denied,

’Tis sanctioned, too, by countless generations.

Sires, grandsires, gloried in this train’s gyrations:

’Twas Hanuman the Mighty’s joy and pride

E’en fairest stars through night’s autumnal trail

In lines of glittering light a sparkling tail:

And this choice decoration—we’re to flout it

Merely because mankind is now without it?

And feet, whose fingers free and unimpeded

Are capable of touch, and work if needed,

Why must their poor maimed thumbs, all knobs and sores

Be cramped in Spanish pumps, to slip and fumble

Through mire and dust, with many an awkward tumble;

Nay, rather we, intrepid on all fours,