And bloom with unsuspected gables;

The cubic area of the things

Prevents one getting round the tables.

To weave such nests, so fair, so coy,

Should be the workman's bonum summum,

To me it were all mirth, all joy

To paint, to whitewash, or to plumb 'em.

Far other was the task of thralls

Who had to rear these inner suburbs,

Piling the sad Victorian walls