Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ROUNDHEAD AND CAVALIER by WILLIAM YANDELL ELLIOTT

First Line: OLD NOLL LOOKED DOWN FROM THE WALL, AND SPOKE TO ME
Last Line: HIS WART WENT RED.
Subject(s): CAVALIER, JEAN (1681-1740); GRANDPARENTS; GRANDMOTHERS; GRANDFATHERS; GREAT GRANDFATHERS; GREAT GRANDMOTHERS;

Old Noll looked down from the wall, and spoke to me:
"Foul papish ways your time takes on, Grandson.
Yourself is froward and stiff-necked, but charity
Is in you and your years are few. Let run
All who would read: The Beast, his sign is on
Your Sodom, and royal Tyrian scarlet decks
The harlotry of all your Babylon.
Get you a rod and bend their necks,
And bow their knees or flay their backs."

But I looked up at Noll, and yawned and rose.
"Grandpa," I said,
"The mountain is that molehill on your nose."
His wart went red.



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