Unless I choose to let her out.
AT THE SIGN OF THE COCK
(FRENCH STYLE, 1898)
(Being an Ode in further “Contribution to the Song of French History,” dedicated, without malice or permission, to Mr. George Meredith)
I
Rooster her sign,
Rooster her pugnant note, she struts
Evocative, amazon spurs aprick at heel;
Nid-nod the authentic stump
Of the once ensanguined comb vermeil as wine;
With conspuent doodle-doo