ON HEARING

Sound without sense, and words devoid of force,

Through which no art could find a clue,

And mean and shackling was the whole discourse

That kept me, Tully, long from you.

Heads of harangues, to heads less general, split,

Seem'd like small laths, cleft from some heavy log;

I heard the inference, that no object hit —

All congelation, vapor, smoke, or fog.

And what avail'd the argument unsound

That nothing proved, or on the expecting mind

Forced no conviction — just as well might sound

To the deaf ear with sentiments abound.

Long did we wait for application time

To find what sense or reason might apply:—

It came — attended with the false sublime,

And thread-bare truths, no mortal could deny.

Repeated thoughts, and periods of a mile,

Remarks devoid of dignity or power,

Exploded notions, dress'd in brilliant style,

Exhausted patience, and consumed the hour.

Thus when of old some town some folks besieged,

Before the walls the invader sat him down,

While those who mann'd them, at their foes enraged,

Threw many a load of ancient lumber down;

And wore them out, with tumbling on their heads

Bricks, tiles, and paving-stones, huge logs of timber,

Pump-water, cold or boiling, shovels, spades,—

And more, by far, than you or I remember.

Ah, speaker! with artillery like your own

Hard will it be one Federal to awake,

Trust me, although you scold, and chafe, and frown,

You may besiege, but are not like to take

Their three wall'd town.