Sonnet to Gath

Country of hunchbacks!— where the strong, straight spine,
Jeered at by crooked children, makes his way
Through by-streets at the kindest hour of day,
Till he deplore his stature, and incline
To measure manhood with a gibbous line;
Till out of loneliness, being flawed with clay,
He stoop into his neighbour’s house and say,
“Your roof is low for me—the fault is mine.”

Dust in an urn long since, dispersed and dead
Is great Apollo; and the happier he;
Since who amongst you all would lift a head
At a god’s radiance on the mean door-tree,
Saving to run and hide your dates and bread,
And cluck your children in about your knee?