Читать книгу A Garden of Peace: A Medley in Quietude - Frank Frankfort Moore - Страница 12

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Two stoats, a weasel, and a jay,

In varied stages of decay,

Are hanging on the gibbet-tree

For all the woodland folk to see,

And tattered rags swing to and fro

Remains of what was once a crow.

What were their crimes that when they died

The Earth was not allowed to hide

Their mangled corpses out of sight,

Instead of dangling in the light?

They didn't sin against the Law

Of “Naturered in tooth and claw,”

But 'gainst the edicts of the keeper

Who plays the part of Death the Reaper,

And doth with deadly gun determine

What creatures shall be classed as vermin.

Whether we gibbets find, or grace,

Depends on accident of place,

For what is vice in Turkestan

May be a virtue in Japan.