[12]
My first belongs, in pairs, to man and beast,
And of the gifts of harvest not the least;
The treasures of my next no boy of feeling
Will e’er disgrace his heart or name by stealing;
My first and third the time, my whole the way,
To undertake the duties of each day.
[13]
My first is a body of water.
My second is a fish.
My third is a preposition.
My fourth is a name for the head.
My whole was a bone of contention.
[14]
Did’st ever go to singing-school,
And hear the master try
To sound the notes upon the scale,
From lowest to most high?
Then have you heard my first, the best,
Fall sweetly on your ear,
’Tis strange that with such company
My second should appear.
My second ne’er in gentle mood,
Is full of ire and hate,
Oh, let none who shall glance this o’er,
Be found in such a state.
’Tis only for the lunatic,
Bereft of reason’s light,
Thus to profane his nature by
So sorrowful a sight.
My whole is an illusion vain,
Yet perfect as untrue;
It doth the real object seem,
But double on the view.
By its strange spell the water seems
As if ’twere hung in air,
The desert traveler knows full well
Its vision false as fair.