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Bentley: Ballade of Plain Common Sense
BALLADE OF PLAIN COMMON SENSE
The croakers say that Mr Justice Peck
Was briefless both as junior and K.C.
That nasty business of the altered cheque
Was never quite hushed up, unhappily,
But still, it was the Bench or bankruptcy;
Besides, the man was getting on in years,
And nothing done for him. It had to be,
I simply wag my great, long, furry ears.
They say the Duke of Deal is wont to deck .
His forehead with a huge phylactery;
They say Sir Buckley Boldwood is a Czech,
And Lord FitzWaldemar a Portuguee;
They say Lord Penge began in poverty
Outside Pompeii, selling souvenirs.
I cannot think of any repartee,
I simply wag my great, long, furry ears.
They speak of England as a moral wreck,
Stone-blind and deaf to all reality;
Her mind asleep, the usurer on her neck,
Her God forgotten, and her history.
They say, 'Shall these things perish utterly,
These that were England through the glorious years—
Faith and green fields and honour and the sea?'
I simply wag my great, long, furry ears.
Envoi
Prince, they deride your purse, your pedigree,
Your taste in Art, and wine, and clothes, and peers.
Such things make no impression upon me;
I simply wag my great, long, furry ears.
E. C. BENTLEY
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