Like the sharp scrape of tin-tacks desperate,

Persistent in the hollowed crystal air,

Till sounds dissolve to liquid quietude.

The hot dust smeared along the roadway chokes

The sneezing passers-by and slowly mounts

Into their nostril-caves distressingly

Like microscopic gnats, but now there come

Refreshing rumblings from the water-cart,

Which spits small Beardsley-drops about the street

And trickles down into the gutters fast,