Of Purple Pimples
Moons are a fickle fry;
Suns are escaping gas;
See Pan-Creation die
Of enlarged pancreas!
The universal mass
Lacks even architectonic:
God is Man's looking-glass …
But purple pimples are chronic.
The amaranthine lie
Arraigns its purple class:
Beauty must Helen sigh;
Valour, Leonidas:
Where's Tyre? where hippocras?
I ask with pen ironic
(In purple ink, alas!) …
But purple pimples are chronic.
And Chronos, throned on high
Above the vast morass,
Sees matter form and fly,
Sees Maya gleam and pass:
The worlds are mown as grass:
His scythe, a leech laconic,
Shrives all—nefas aut fas …
But purple pimples are chronic.
ENVOY.
Tout passe, tout lasse, tout casse,
Even the rat bubonic:
Omnia vanitas!
But purple pimples are chronic.
Ah...forgot to mention that it was published in 1911 by A. G. Stephens, who has been described as "the strongest single force in shaping Australian literature". Writing for the Bulletin, he was Australia's most influential, widely read and respected literary critic at the time. Gotta love those old bush ballads!
Cheers
David
