As neat as they set out. But in their minds,

(Impenetrable masks), their tired thoughts

Succeed each other, feeble and fatigued.

One, after supper and a game of whist,

Will rest his run-down clock-work on a bed.


The gas-lamps prick their whiteness in the skies,

The footsteps of a weary harlot’s tread

Remind the street that there is sin abroad.

But dismally sin ever fails to lure