"To a goose"
Aug. 9th, 2010 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marnanel"To a goose", by Robert Southey (1774-1843), poet laureate, apparently parodying Wordsworth. I think this sonnet is admirable. Best read out loud for full effect.
If thou didst feed on western plains of yore
or waddle wide with flat and flabby feet
over some Cambrian mountain's plashy moor,
or find in farmer's yard a safe retreat
from gipsy thieves and foxes sly and fleet;
If thy grey quills by lawyer guided, trace
deeds big with ruin to some wretched race,
or love-sick poet's sonnet, sad and sweet,
wailing the rigour of some lady fair;
Or if, the drudge of housemaid's daily toil,
cobwebs and dust thy pinion white besoil,
departed goose! I neither know nor care.
But this I know, that thou wert very fine
seasoned with sage and onions and port wine.
If thou didst feed on western plains of yore
or waddle wide with flat and flabby feet
over some Cambrian mountain's plashy moor,
or find in farmer's yard a safe retreat
from gipsy thieves and foxes sly and fleet;
If thy grey quills by lawyer guided, trace
deeds big with ruin to some wretched race,
or love-sick poet's sonnet, sad and sweet,
wailing the rigour of some lady fair;
Or if, the drudge of housemaid's daily toil,
cobwebs and dust thy pinion white besoil,
departed goose! I neither know nor care.
But this I know, that thou wert very fine
seasoned with sage and onions and port wine.
