Page 32 - Poetry-Whimsy

In this grand scheme of penal laws—
So free from doubt, delay, excitement
Each of the tiger’s separate claws
Was a “separate clause” in the indictment.

Said we not well this king was shrewd
Who this strong, simple plan pursued?
The crowd amused—Law vindicated
The tigers fed—the maidens mated!

The king’s own daughter’s inclination
Was toward a youth of lowly station,
And since he was, like Barkis, “willin’,”
He must have been a hardened villain.

So the police pursued him, caught him,
And to the Colosseum brought him;
And thither came the monarch proud,
The princess, and the baser crowd.

Behind the scenes another maiden
Attends, with all her gewgaws laden.
While close at hand, to left—or right
The tiger—with his appetite.

The throng now see the culprit enter
And pause at the arena’s center:
Turn, face the royal box, and bow;
Alas! How feels the princess now?

She only, favored by the Fates,
Knows the dread problem of the gates:
Which hides her rival’s hateful face,
And which the tiger’s lurking-place.

Her luckless lover vainly tries
To read her secret in her eyes.
What sign can reach his straining sight?
She lifts one lily hand—the right!

He sees the sign; he must obey;
He bows again and turns away;

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