Over the lawn the flat clouds loom,
And when they lighten the rain falls faster;
Like gossips who relish a friend’s disaster
The ducks quack loud in the rain-ruled gloom.
I’ve studied the cracks in the ceiling-plaster,
And the statuettes with their stolid leer,
And the landscape visions of some Young Master,
Who viewed the world through a haze of beer.
We’ve done as much with the hostel’s cheer
As sane men may in corpore sano;