| 1 |
But
the people themselves have altered more
Than even the hapless city;
Like peripatetic ruins they go—
A sight to wake one's pity.
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| 2 |
The
thin have grown thinner, and fatter the fat,
The children are old and staid now;
And those that were old are children again,
Dependent on other's aid now .
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| 3 |
And
many are bullocks who used to be calves
In the days when we sojourned together,
And many a gosling now goes as a goose,
In proud and daunting feather.
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| 4 |
I
found old Gudel bedizened and decked
With a siren's alluring brightness;
She was sporting a wig of raven hair
And teeth of dazzling whiteness.
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| 5 |
My
stationer friend in resisting change
Had approved himself far the aptest;
With his halo of yellow hair framing his head,
He might pass for John the Baptist.
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| 6 |
Of
* * * * I caught but a glimpse, he fled
Too fast to be overtaken;
I hear that his soul was burnt, and insured
By Bieber whose credit was shaken.
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| 7 |
I
saw my good old censor, too,
In the mist bent almost double;
We met in the square where they traffic in geese;
He seemed oppressed by some trouble.
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| 8 |
We
stopped and shook hands; there were tears in his eyes,
Unless I much deceive me;
He said he was happy to meet me again—
'Twas a touching scene, believe me.
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| 9 |
There
were many I missed and could not find—
Their earthly race was over.
My Gumpelino mortal eye
Shall never more discover.
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| 10 |
To
this noble soul quite recently
Release by death was given,
And he hovers round Jehovah's throne
With the Seraphim in heaven.
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