In Bohemia

By John Boyle O’Reilly

(Irish-born American journalist, 1844-1890)

The thirsty of soul soon learn to know

The moistureless froth of the social show,

The vulgar sham of the pompous feast

Where the heaviest purse is the highest priest;

The organized charity, scrimped and iced,

In the name of a cautious, statistical Christ.