106
what's o'clock
More than an arm's length to reach open air,
And distant so far down that sums of steps
Ran into figures to affright the mind,
God lived upon an altar bright with lights
Where snivelling priests might wish him well-a-day.
Now Neron was a man preoccupied
With the huge spectacle of impotence
Swarming upon an ether-floating planet
Which only people called astronomers
Paused to take any heed of. Other men
Hurried and worried over this and that,
And passed from birth to death in one short eye-wink
Of aching agitation. Fools, parlous fools,
To aged Neron, but a stupendous jest
Fit for the crumpling of old bones in laughter.
Sneering was a capable sort of sport
If one had learnt the trick of balancing
On an impalpable circumference
To whirl a quite detached and sharpened vision
And distant so far down that sums of steps
Ran into figures to affright the mind,
God lived upon an altar bright with lights
Where snivelling priests might wish him well-a-day.
Now Neron was a man preoccupied
With the huge spectacle of impotence
Swarming upon an ether-floating planet
Which only people called astronomers
Paused to take any heed of. Other men
Hurried and worried over this and that,
And passed from birth to death in one short eye-wink
Of aching agitation. Fools, parlous fools,
To aged Neron, but a stupendous jest
Fit for the crumpling of old bones in laughter.
Sneering was a capable sort of sport
If one had learnt the trick of balancing
On an impalpable circumference
To whirl a quite detached and sharpened vision
