JOHN HELPS

John Helps a wer an honest mon;

The perry that a made

Wer crunched vrom purs as honest

As ever tree displayed.

John Helps a wer an honest mon;

The dumplings that a chewed

Wer made vrom honest apples

As Autumn ever growed.

John Helps a wer an honest mon,

And I be sorry a’s dead.

Perry and honest men be scarce

These days, ’tiz zed.

LOVE POEMS

Her body’s glory is a golden snake

Around Life’s tree

Coiled: the tree shall break

In the blast of Eternity

And the coil be crushed.

Too late! immortal poison has rushed

Through more-than-veins.

Beauty remains

Though bodies rot. The fang

(Though flesh the pang

To flesh deliver)

Strikes down more deep

Than flesh, to trouble

Even the ultimate sleep,

The eternal dream.

Though all she seem

To be, like a golden bubble

Shall break at the prick of Death,

This shall not break:

Her beauty’s sting: sharp as the sting of a snake:

The sting of Beauty failing not with breath.