---

C J Dennis - This Momentous Mummery
Work rating: Low

Well, I don`t know.  Maybe it`s quite all right,
   And maybe it is I who am perverse,
Finding in this unedifying sight
Mere mummery, and hearing but a blight
   Of words and frowsty fustian -- or worse
Maybe I`m wrong; and homosapiens yet,
Among the sentient, stays wise Nature`s pet.

First the exordium, restrained and grim,
   Stirring emotions, spreading subtle spells;
And then the swelling voice, the waving limb,
The flashing eye, the pep, the yells, the vim
   The crashing peroration -- and hell`s bells! ...
Old stuff, so I was once led to suppose
Archaic stuff, and yet it goes, it goes.

Once Epictetus or -- well, shall we say
   Marcus Aurelius stirred in me a hope,
As reason grew and error fell away,
Giants might rise to lead us in our day
   Out of this darkened maze in which men grope.
But now I know the man who gets that job
Is he who can spellbind the muddied mob.

But life`s a paradox -- Mayhap I`m wrong
   In seeking guidance from the enlightened wise
Looking for leaders in the sanely strong
To spread sweet reason `mid the puzzled throng --
   A paradox all men must recognise;
And it may be our world shall yet give thanks,
And owe salvation to its mountebanks.
Source
The script ran 0.001 seconds.