Читать книгу The Vision Splendid - William MacLeod Raine - Страница 7

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I wonder if Morgan, the Pirate,

When plunder had glutted his heart,

Gave part of the junk from the ships he had sunk

To help some Museum of Art;

If he gave up the role of “collector of toll”

And became a Collector of Art?

I wonder if Genghis, the Butcher,

When he'd trampled down nations like grass,

Retired with his share when he'd lost all his hair

And started a Sunday-school class;

If he turned his past under and used half his plunder

In running a Sunday-school class?

I wonder if Roger, the Rover,

When millions in looting he'd made,

Built libraries grand on the jolly mainland

To honor success and “free trade”;

If he founded a college of nautical knowledge

Where Pirates could study their trade?

I wonder, I wonder, I wonder,

If Pirates were ever the same,

Ever trying to lend a respectable trend

To the jaunty old buccaneer game

Or is it because of our Piracy Laws

That philanthropists enter the game?

—Wallace Irwin, in Life.

THE REBEL IS INSTRUCTED IN THE WORSHIP OF THE GOD-OF-THINGS-AS-THEY-ARE