V.

My jaws with utter dread enclosed

The morsel I was munching,

And terror locked them up so tight,

My very teeth went crunching

All through my bread and tongue at once, Like sandwich made at lunching.

VI.

My hand that held the teapot fast,

Stiffened, but yet unsteady,

Kept pouring, pouring, pouring o'er

The cup in one long eddy,

Till both my hose were marked with tea,

As they were marked already.

VII.

I felt my visage turn from red
To white-from cold to hot;
But it was nothing wonderful
My colour changed, I wot,
For, like some variable silks,
I felt that I was shot.

VIII.

And looking forth with anxious eye, From my snug upper story,

IX.

The captain marched as mourners march,

The ensign too seemed lagging,

And many more, although they were
No ensigns, took to flagging-

Like corpses in the Serpentine,

Methought they wanted dragging.

X.

But while I watched, the thought of death

Came like a chilly gust,

And lo! I shut the window down,

With very little lust

To join so many marching men,

That soon might be March dust.

XI.

Quoth I," Since Fate ordains it so,

Our foe the coast must land on ;"

I felt so warm beside the fire

I cared not to abandon;

Our hearths and homes are always things

That patriots make a stand on.

XII.

"The fools that fight abroad for home,"

Thought I," may get a wrong one;

Let those that have no home at all

Go battle for a long one."

The mirror here confirmed me this

Reflection, by a strong one :

XIII.

For there, where I was wont to shave,

And deck me like Adonis,

There stood the leader of our foes,

With vultures for his cronies

No Corsican, but Death itself,

The Bony of all Bonies.

XIV.

A horrid sight it was, and sad,

To see the grisly chap

Put on my crimson livery,

And then begin to clap

My helmet on-ah me! it felt

Like any felon's cap.

XV.

My plume seemed borrowed from a hearse, An undertaker's crest ;

CE Brock. Aug-1893

'The mirror here confirmed me this?

My epaulettes like coffin-plates;

My belt so heavy press'd,