TO ONE DETESTEDSir, you're a veteran, revealedIn history and fableAs warrior since you took the field,Defeating Abel.As Commissary later (orIf not, in every cottageThe tale is) you contracted forA mess of pottage.In civil life you were, we read(And our respect increases)A man of peace—a man, indeed,Of thirty pieces.To paying taxes when you turnedYour mind, or what you call so,A wide celebrity you earned—Saphira also.In every age, by various names,You've won renown in story,But on your present record flamesA greater glory.Cain, Esau, and Iscariot, too,And Ananias, likewise,Each had peculiar powers, but whoCould lie as Mike lies?
Sir, you're a veteran, revealedIn history and fableAs warrior since you took the field,Defeating Abel.As Commissary later (orIf not, in every cottageThe tale is) you contracted forA mess of pottage.In civil life you were, we read(And our respect increases)A man of peace—a man, indeed,Of thirty pieces.To paying taxes when you turnedYour mind, or what you call so,A wide celebrity you earned—Saphira also.In every age, by various names,You've won renown in story,But on your present record flamesA greater glory.Cain, Esau, and Iscariot, too,And Ananias, likewise,Each had peculiar powers, but whoCould lie as Mike lies?