Social Commentaries
X. News-Boy
From Hawthorn and Lavender, with Other Verses
Take any station, pavement, circus, corner,
Where men their styles of print may call or choose,
And there--ten times more on it than JACK HORNER--
There shall you find him swathed in sheets of news.
Nothing can stay the placing of his wares--
Not bus, nor cab, nor dray! The very Slop,
That imp of power, is powerless! Ever he dares,
And, daring, lands his public neck and crop.
Even the many-tortured London ear,
The much-enduring, loathes his Speeshul yell,
His shriek of Winnur! But his dart and leer
And poise are irresistible. PALL MALL
Joys in him, and MILE END; for his vocation
Is to purvey the stuff of conversation.
Cite this poem
MLA
Henley, William Ernest. “X. News-Boy.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/henley/181/.
Chicago
Henley, William Ernest. “X. News-Boy.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/henley/181/.
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