Beggar To Beggar Cried

    ‘Time to put off the world and go somewhere
    And find my health again in the sea air,’
    Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
    ‘And make my soul before my pate is bare.’

    ‘And get a comfortable wife and house
    To rid me of the devil in my shoes,’
    Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
    ‘And the worse devil that is between my thighs.’

    ‘And though I’d marry with a comely lass,
    She need not be too comely, let it pass,’
    Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
    ‘But there’s a devil in a looking-glass.’

    ‘Nor should she be too rich, because the rich
    Are driven by wealth as beggars by the itch,’
    Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
    ‘And cannot have a humorous happy speech.’

    ‘And there I’ll grow respected at my ease,
    And hear amid the garden’s nightly peace,’
    Beggar to beggar cried, being frenzy-struck,
    ‘The wind-blown clamour of the barnacle-geese.’