"Nonsense, you understand metaphysics as well as I do."
"Do not disparage yourself. You know I cannot endure metaphysics."
"Why not?"
"Because they are mostly made in Germany. And all Germans write as if their aim was to be misunderstood. Listen to my simple English lay."
"Another love-song to Chloe?"
"No, a really great poem, suggested by the number of papers and poems I have already seen this Moon paragraph in."
He took down the banjo, thrummed it, and sang:
THE GRAND PARAGRAPHIC TOUR.
I composed a little story
About a cockatoo,
With no desire of glory,
To see what would ensue.
It took the public liking
From China to Peru.
The point of it was striking,
Though perfectly untrue.