24
TO MR. PYE
On his Carmen Seculare (a title which has by various persons who have heard it, been thus translated, 'A Poem an age long').
Your poem must eternal be,
Eternal! it can't fail,
For 'tis incomprehensible,
And without head or tail!
First published in Morning Post, Jan. 24, 1800. Included in Keepsake, 1829, p. 277. First collected P. and D. W., ii. 161.
25
[NINETY-EIGHT]
O would the Baptist come again
And preach aloud with might and main
Repentance to our viperous race!
But should this miracle take place,
I hope, ere Irish ground he treads,
He'll lay in a good stock of heads!