Page 45 - Poetry-Whimsy

I will relate, from first to last,
The high, heroic words that passed
From Brown to Jones, and Jones to Brown,
While the good ship was going down.
Dear Reader, bear them well in mind,
And think more nobly of your kind!
Quoth Jones: “Dear Brown, pray do not think
‘Tis selfish fear that makes me shrink
From yielding up this wretched breath
To save a fellow-man from death.
I long to cry, ‘Dear friend, oh take
This life-preserver, for my sake!’
But this, alas! I cannot do:
I am not free, dear Brown, like you.
You may enjoy the bliss divine
Of giving up your life for mine;
But ah! ‘tis different with me!
I have a wife and children three;
And, for their sake, I must control
The generous impulse of my soul.
Yet trust me, Brown, most willingly,
Nay, with unfeigned alacrity,
This life-preserver I’d resign,
Were my case yours, or your case mine!”

“Dear Jones, your reasons,” Brown replied,
“Are good, and cannot be denied.
All that your words imply is true:
I have no wife nor child, like you.
But, Jones, I have a tie to life
Far stronger (do not start) than wife
Or child, though dear, could ever be:
I mean my great ‘Cosmogony,’
Of which, as you have doubtless heard,
One volume is to come—the third.
Oh, were that mighty task complete
Down to the last corrected sheet,
Believe me, Jones, to save your life
To your dear family and wife,
I’d yield to you, unmurmuring,
This frail support to which we cling!
But what are wife and children three

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