With laborers, carpenters, seamen
And some loose women.
And certain notable sinners
Gave him dinners.
And he went to weddings, and to places where youth slakes
Its thirst fur happiness, and they served him cakes
And wine wherever he went.
And he ate and drank, and spent
His time in feasting and in telling stories,
And singing poems of lilies and of trees—
With crowds of people crowded around his knees—
That searched with lightning secrets hidden
Of life and of life's glories,
Of death and of the soul's way after death.
Time makes amends usually for scandals breath,
Which touched him to his earthly ruination.
But this city had a Civic Federation,
And a certain social order which intrigues
Through churches, courts, with an endless ramification
Of money and morals to save itself.
And this city had a Bar Association,
Also its Public Efficiency Leagues
For laying honest men upon the shelf
While making private pelf
Secure and free to increase.
And this city had illustrious Pharisees,
[297]
