The Aged Man

I shook him well from side to side
Until his face was blue.
“Come, tell me where’s the Bill,” I cried,
“And what you’re going to do.”

He said, “I hunt for gibes and pins
To prick the Bishops’ calves,
I search for Royal Commissions, too,
To use as safety valves.”

[See the Debate on Temperance Legislation in the House of Lords, May 14, 1901.]

Spades in Wonderland

The Red King: Harcourt, Grey, and Lloyd-George are all putting their own colours on, I think I’d better paint it myself.]