Page:Anthology of Magazine Verse (1921).djvu/134
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Still, why should we be selfish with our privilege?" they said.
"For since man has this golden root of folly in his breast,
Why may not lovely woman too possess some molecules
Of sheer delightful foolishness? Let's put her to the test,
And not be too exclusive in our parliament of Fools."
"For since man has this golden root of folly in his breast,
Why may not lovely woman too possess some molecules
Of sheer delightful foolishness? Let's put her to the test,
And not be too exclusive in our parliament of Fools."
So they debated it. Indeed, they came as near a fuss
As such a reasonable group could ever come. But then
One thoughtful Fool's objection made them all unanimous.
"Now there are women Fools," he said, "as random as the men.
But what's the honor of the Fool? What marks and qualifies
And makes his melancholy sweet and pure? Why this, as you'll
Agree: He never never will pretend that he is wise—
So how can any woman ever be a Perfect Fool?"
As such a reasonable group could ever come. But then
One thoughtful Fool's objection made them all unanimous.
"Now there are women Fools," he said, "as random as the men.
But what's the honor of the Fool? What marks and qualifies
And makes his melancholy sweet and pure? Why this, as you'll
Agree: He never never will pretend that he is wise—
So how can any woman ever be a Perfect Fool?"
The vote was passed. They realized, more strictly than before,
The duty that they owed the world, to keep their folly pure:
And many an eager candidate they turned back at the door,
And snugly circled round their hearth, fraternally and sure.
They loved their virtue far too well to heedlessly admit
One bitter taint of wisdom through their mystic vestibules,
And many a puzzled passenger was palsied in his wit
To hear that cryptic laughter in the Tavern of the Fools.
The duty that they owed the world, to keep their folly pure:
And many an eager candidate they turned back at the door,
And snugly circled round their hearth, fraternally and sure.
They loved their virtue far too well to heedlessly admit
One bitter taint of wisdom through their mystic vestibules,
And many a puzzled passenger was palsied in his wit
To hear that cryptic laughter in the Tavern of the Fools.
The New York Evening PostChristopher Morley
119