Moral Emblems

Robert Louis Stevenson

Moral Emblems

NOT I, AND OTHER POEMS

Poem: NOT ISome like drinkIn a pint pot,Some like to think;Some not.Strong Dutch cheese,Old Kentucky rye,Some like these;Not I.Some like Poe,And others like Scott,Some like Mrs. Stowe;Some not.Some like to laugh,Some like to cry,Some like chaff;Not I.Poem: IIHere, perfect to a wish,We offer, not a dish,But just the platter:A book that’s not a book,A pamphlet in the lookBut not the matter.I own in disarray:As to the flowers of MayThe frosts of Winter;To my poetic rage,The smallness of the pageAnd of the printer.Poem: IIIAs seamen on the seasWith song and dance descryAdown the morning breezeAn islet in the sky:In Araby the dry,As o’er the sandy plainThe panting camels cryTo smell the coming rain:So all things over earthA common law obey,And rarity and worthPass, arm in arm, away;And even so, to-day,The printer and the bard,In pressless Davos, prayTheir sixpenny reward.Poem: IVThe pamphlet here presentedWas planned and printed byA printer unindented,A bard whom all decry.The author and the printer,With various kinds of skill,Concocted it in WinterAt Davos on the Hill.They burned the nightly taper;But now the work is ripe -Observe the costly paper,Remark the perfect type!

MORAL EMBLEMS I

Poem: ISee how the children in the printBound on the book to see what’s in ‘t!O, like these pretty babes, may youSeize and apply this volume too!And while your eye upon the cutsWith harmless ardour opes and shuts,Reader, may your immortal mindTo their sage lessons not be blind.Poem: IIReader, your soul upraise to see,In yon fair cut designed by me,The pauper by the highwaysideVainly soliciting from pride.Mark how the Beau with easy airContemns the anxious rustic’s prayer,And, casting a disdainful eye,Goes gaily gallivanting by.He from the poor averts his head.He will regret it when he’s dead.Poem: III – A PEAK IN DARIENBroad-gazing on untrodden lands,See where adventurous Cortez stands;While in the heavens above his headThe Eagle seeks its daily bread.How aptly fact to fact replies:Heroes and eagles, hills and skies.Ye who contemn the fatted slaveLook on this emblem, and be brave.Poem: IVSee in the print how, moved by whim,Trumpeting Jumbo, great and grim,Adjusts his trunk, like a cravat,To noose that individual’s hat.The sacred Ibis in the distanceJoys to observe his bold resistance.Poem: VMark, printed on the opposing page,The unfortunate effects of rage.A man (who might be you or me)Hurls another into the sea.Poor soul, his unreflecting actHis future joys will much contract,And he will spoil his evening toddyBy dwelling on that mangled body.

MORAL EMBLEMS II

Poem: IWith storms a-weather, rocks a-lee,The dancing skiff puts forth to sea.The lone dissenter in the blastRecoils before the sight aghast.But she, although the heavens be black,Holds on upon the starboard tack,For why? although to-day she sink,Still safe she sails in printer’s ink,And though to-day the seamen drown,My cut shall hand their memory down.Poem: IIThe careful angler chose his nookAt morning by the lilied brook,And all the noon his rod he pliedBy that romantic riverside.Soon as the evening hours declineTranquilly he’ll return to dine,And, breathing forth a pious wish,Will cram his belly full of fish.Poem: IIIThe Abbot for a walk went out,A wealthy cleric, very stout,And Robin has that Abbot stuckAs the red hunter spears the buck.The djavel or the javelinHas, you observe, gone bravely in,And you may hear that weapon whackBang through the middle of his back.Hence we may learn that Abbots shouldNever go walking in a wood.Poem: IVThe frozen peaks he once explored,But now he’s dead and by the board.How better far at home to have stayedAttended by the parlour maid,And warmed his knees before the fireUntil the hour when folks retire!So, if you would be spared to friends,Do nothing but for business ends.Poem: VIndustrious pirate! see him sweepThe lonely bosom of the deep,And daily the horizon scanFrom Hatteras or Matapan.Be sure, before that pirate’s old,He will have made a pot of gold,And will retire from all his laboursAnd be respected by his neighbours.You also scan your life’s horizonFor all that you can clap your eyes on.

A MARTIAL ELEGY FOR SOME LEAD SOLDIERS

For certain soldiers lately deadOur reverent dirge shall here be said.Them, when their martial leader called,No dread preparative appalled;But leaden-hearted, leaden-heeled,I marked them steadfast in the field.Death grimly sided with the foe,And smote each leaden hero low.Proudly they perished one by one:The dread Pea-cannon’s work was done!O not for them the tears we shed,Consigned to their congenial lead;But while unmoved their sleep they take,We mourn for their dear Captain’s sake,For their dear Captain, who shall smartBoth in his pocket and his heart,Who saw his heroes shed their gore,And lacked a shilling to buy more!

THE GRAVER THE PEN: OR, SCENES FROM NATURE, WITH APPROPRIATE VERSES

Poem: I – PROEMUnlike the common run of men,I wield a double power to please,And use the GRAVER and the PENWith equal aptitude and ease.I move with that illustrious crew,The ambidextrous Kings of Art;And every mortal thing I doBrings ringing money in the mart.Hence, in the morning hour, the mead,

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