Burbank with a Baedeker:1
Bleistein with a Cigar
Tra-la-la-la-la-la-laire- nil nisi divinum
stabile est; caetera fumusthe gondola stopped, the old palace was
there, how charming its grey and pink—goats and monkeys, with such
hair too!—so the countess passed on until she came through the
little park, where Niobe presented her with a cabinet, and so
departed.2
Burbank crossed a little bridge
Descending at a small hotel;
Princess Volupine3 arrived,
They were together, and he fell.4
Descending at a small hotel;
Princess Volupine3 arrived,
They were together, and he fell.4
Defunctive music under sea
Passed seaward with the passing bell
Slowly: the God Hercules5
Had left him, that had loved him well.
Passed seaward with the passing bell
Slowly: the God Hercules5
Had left him, that had loved him well.
The horses, under the axletree
Beat up the dawn from Istria6
With even feet. Her shuttered barge
Burned on the water all the day.
Beat up the dawn from Istria6
With even feet. Her shuttered barge
Burned on the water all the day.
But this or such was Bleistein’s way:
A saggy bending of the knees
And elbows, with the palms turned out,
Chicago Semite Viennese.
A saggy bending of the knees
And elbows, with the palms turned out,
Chicago Semite Viennese.
A lustreless protrusive eye
Stares from the protozoic slime
At a perspective of Canaletto. 7
The smoky candle end of time
Stares from the protozoic slime
At a perspective of Canaletto. 7
The smoky candle end of time
Declines. On the Rialto8
once.
The rats are underneath the piles.
The Jew is underneath the lot.
Money in furs. The boatman smiles,
The rats are underneath the piles.
The Jew is underneath the lot.
Money in furs. The boatman smiles,
Princess Volupine extends
A meagre, blue-nailed, phthisic hand
To climb the waterstair. Lights, lights,
She entertains Sir Ferdinand
A meagre, blue-nailed, phthisic hand
To climb the waterstair. Lights, lights,
She entertains Sir Ferdinand
Klein. Who clipped the lion’s wings9
And flea’d his rump and pared his claws?
Thought Burbank, meditating on
Time’s ruins, and the seven laws.
And flea’d his rump and pared his claws?
Thought Burbank, meditating on
Time’s ruins, and the seven laws.