Epithalamium in the Modern Manner

The round, red moon ran a level eye along the hayfield,

Appraising conditions with a view to possibilities.

It was the moon's business to see that the shadows of the cocks were of sufficient size,

As a preliminary to the seasonable arrival of the next generation.

"To one enamoured of dragonflies,
What is a chip hat with a ribbon round it?
To one engrossed in a game of cribbage,
What is the importance of the Treaty of Ghent?"
Which shows that Archibald was in a naughty humour,
And Joanna more than usually occupied with the counting of grass-blades.

The moon caught them in her long orange arms

And jostled them together with so thorough a completeness

That they fell, giggling, into a haycock shadow,

As perfect a pair of young animals as need be
For the maintenance of the species man on an ant-corroded planet.