YOU can turn my first, and it gives a nod;
You can turn my last if you will;
But the more you try to turn my whole,
The more it stands stock-still.
[84]
WHEN the story about Looking Backward we read,
We learn of a strange human being,
Who turned to my first; unlike many deed,
The trouble was caused by far-seeing.
In my second (though flowing with honey, I ’ve heard)
I hope I shall ne’er be a dweller;
And yet from my first to my second and third
Is as far as from attic to cellar.
My whole comes in pairs, and is useful to all,
Though its style may be out of all reason;
Its fashions are changing, now large and now small,
And we ’re glad if it holds but a season.
[85]
THE sparkling wine was bright and red; ’t was tempting, but, alas!
Full well I knew my whole, unseen, was lurking in the glass.
And when, with wily argument, they offered it to me,
I said I would not drink, and what I one, two, three!