Lapsus Calami (Apr 1891)/A Political Allegory

by James Kenneth Stephen

A Political Allegory^[1].

 

Once there was a famous nationWith a long and glorious past:Very splendid was its station,And its territory vast:It had won the approbation,The applause and admiration,Of the states who'd had occasion.In a time of tribulation,And of disorganisation,Not to mention degradation,And profound humiliation,To observe it standing fastWithout any trepidation,Or a sign of vacillation,Firm and faithful to the last.

Came a time of dire distraction,Full of terror and despair,When a delicate transactionCalled for unexampled care;But the people were directed,Both the well and ill-affected,To a wholly unexpected And surprising course of action,Based on motives new and rare(Being governed by a faction,As they generally were).

In a little time the nationHad a chance of saying whetherIt and its administrationSeemed inclined to pull together:And it spoke its mind with vigour:—"Such disgraceful conduct mustEverlastingly disfigureFuture annals, and disgustEvermore the candid student:You have been unwise, imprudent,Pusillanimous, unjust,And neglectful of the gloryAppertaining to our nameTill this melancholy storyPut a period to our fame."

So this faction, disappointed,Lost the national good graces,And their rivals were anointed,And were set in the high places.

Pretty soon arose conditionsMost embarrassing and hard,And the party politiciansHad to be upon their guard. Illegitimate ambitions,Democratic rhetoricians,Persons prone to base submissions,Men of warlike dispositions,Wild and wicked statisticians,Metaphysical magicians,Men inclined to make conditions,And a host of wary foes,Compassed round the ruling faction:But a certain line of actionThey incontinently chose:And with great determination,And extreme discrimination,After proper preparation,And profound examination,Wrought it out with acclamation,And each other's approbation,Till the national taxationNot unnaturally rose.

To the nation soon occurred anOpportunity of sayingWhat they thought about the burdenWhich the government was layingOn their shoulders: and they said itIn uncompromising terms:—"Your behaviour would discreditTigers, crocodiles, or worms: You have ruined and disgraced us,And successfully effaced usFrom the proud commanding stationWhere the zeal and penetrationOf our ancestors had placed us.Go! we are a ruined nation;But before our dissolutionWe pronounce your condemnation—Sappers of our constitution,Slayers of our reputation!"

But the nation—mark the moral,For its value is untold—During each successive quarrelGrew and prospered as of old.

1. From "A Wreath of Song" by the Lotos Club. Cambridge, Deighton and Bell, 1880.