A sop for SAVOY neatly put, elicits
_Such_ "double rounds of cheering."
"_Vive CARNOT!_" To be sure! My annual visits,
France to the Flag endearing
By sweet-phrased flattery of the Fatherland,
Are sure to swell our legions.
"I wish, France, to be _thine_!" The effect was grand,
In "Allobrogian" regions.
_Vive_ Everything--especially _la Blague!_
(What _should_ we do without it?)
Fraternity! the Fatherland! the Flag!--
_I_ work them--never doubt it!
Then "_La Republique_" and "_La Russie_," linked,
Pair off, 'midst acclamations:
Yes, I proclaimed--and never winced or winked--
_That_ "brotherhood of nations!"
"A delegation of young children," Ah!
And they were not the only ones.
"Men are but children of a larger--" Bah!
Wise and strong _men_ are--lonely ones.
Most men--French-men--have touches of the child,
Fondness for show, fine phrases--
Pst! Here my _role_'s not cynical, but mild,
And open as dawn-daisies.
"_J'embrasse la Russie!_" That was rather neat
For "_Faute-de-Mieux_," at any rate.
Wondrous the magic power of _blague_, and "bleat"
On Man--_mouton_ degenerate!
That "_Bete Humaine_," as ZOLA dubs him. Gr--r--r!
The real brutes are braver;
The tiger, when in chase of prey, won't purr,
Nor will the Bear, then, slaver.
The Bear! Reminds me of a horrid dream
I had that night.
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