Tell all the same relentless tale.

I’ve none to smile with, or make free

Or, when I want it, lend to me

Yet in my dreams a cheque I view,

That’s meant for me—a large one too.

I start, and when the vision’s flown,

I weep that all my money’s gone.

From The Lays of the Mocking Sprite. Cambridge. W. Metcalfe & Sons.

——:o:——

ODE,