Poems

“The International Idea,The largest and the clearest,Is welding all the nations now,Except the one that’s nearest.This compromise has long been known,This scheme of partial pardons,In ethical societiesAnd small suburban gardens”

— G. K. Chesterton

“The pale leaf falls in pallor, but the green leaf turns to gold; We that have found it good to be young shall find it good to be old;””

— G. K. Chesterton

“Jones had a dog; it had a chain;Not often worn, not causing pain;But, as the I.K.L. had passedTheir 'Unleashed Cousins Act’ at last,Inspectors took the chain away;Whereat the canine barked ‘Hooray!’At which, of course, the S.P.U.(Whose Nervous Motorists’ Bill was through)Were forced to give the dog in chargeFor being Audibly at Large.None, you will say, were now annoyed,Save, haply, Jones - the yard was void.But something being in the leaseAbout ‘alarms to aid the police,’The U.S.U. annexed the yardFor having no sufficient guard.Now if there’s one conditionThe C.C.P. are strong uponIt is that every house one buysMust have a yard for exercise;So Jones, as tenant, was unfit,His state of health was proof of it.Two doctors of the T.T.U.'sTold him his legs, from long disuse,Were atrophied; and saying ‘SoFrom step to higher step we goTill everything is New and True.’They cut his legs off and withdrew.You know the E.T.S.T.'s viewsAre stronger than the T.T.U.'s:And soon (as one may say) took wingThe Arms, though not the Man, I sing.To see him sitting limbless thereWas more than the K.K. could bear.'In mercy silence with all speedThat mouth there are no hands to feed;What cruel sentimentalist,O Jones, would doom thee to exist -Clinging to selfish Selfhood yet?Weak one! Such reasoning might upsetThe Pump Act, and the accumulationOf all constructive legislation;Let us construct you up a bit ­­- 'The head fell off when it was hit:Then words did rise and honest doubt,And four Commissioners sat aboutWhether the slash that left him deadCut off his body or his head.An author in the Isle of WightObserved with unconcealed delightA land of just and old renownWhere Freedom slowly broadened downFrom Precedent to Precedent.And this, I think, was what he meant.””

— G. K. Chesterton