When spelled with four letters, I’m solemn, ’tis true;
But spell me in five, and you’ll know what I do.
Even change two of these, and no wrong you will find,
And in six, I’ll build wagon or house to your mind.
[53]
Curtail me once, I am a youth;
Behead me once, a snake;
Complete I’m often used in truth
When certain steps you take.
[54]
Four letters, just, compose my name,
Read forward, backward, both the same
Will readily appear;
A Prophetess, I stand confess’d,
Who once the Mediator bless’d,
With reverential fear.
[55]
A bird and a sheep, and a yard and a quarter,
An organ of very great use, I am sure,
And the very beginning of literature,
Are the name of many a gentleman’s daughter.
[56]
Ah! wo to him who feels my power!
A grasping, clutching thing am I,
And many, in some evil hour,
Have, by my means, been called to die.