THE WAR PIG: A PALINODE

Much obloquy was thine in days of yore,

O Porker, and thy service manifold

(Save for a casual mention, curt and cold)

Ungrateful man continued to ignore;

Nay worse, he ceased not daily to outpour

Abuse upon thy breed, to sneer and scold,

Till every porcine trait, in days of old,

We learned to ridicule or to abhor.

But now the days of calumny are past,

These cruel innuendoes we disown,

And epithets designed to blame or blast

Take on a new and honorific tone;

For England needs thee, blameless Porker, now,

And Prothero salutes the sovereign sow.