ODE TO A DINNER-GONG

"The tocsin of the soul—the dinner-bell."

So said, admiringly, the late Lord Byron,

But he had never heard your noisy knell,

O blatant bellowing thing of brass or iron,

Or surely he had metrically cursed

Your nerve-distracting Corybantic clangour.

Would his fine indignation could have versed

My utter hate, my agonising anger.

Alas! is gusto then so great a sin,