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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


HE SAYS THAT HIS CREDITOR IS A MORE TERRIBLE SIGHT THAN A COMET...... by JAMES CLARENCE MANGAN

First Line: THE BLOOD-RED COMET, WHICH, IN FIERY SWEEP
Last Line: AT LAST, GATHERING COURAGE FROM DESPAIR ITSELF

The blood-red Comet, which, in fiery sweep,
Burns round the welkin, threatening each beholder
With War or Plague ere Time be greatly older,
Bids, I protest, no deadlier terrors creep
Through my pale veins, nor makes my chilled heart colder
Than doth my Dun when, with a sly, bo-peep
Abord and aspect, stealth' as a sheep,
He taps me, catch-pole fashion, on the shoulder.
Such Comet is, no doubt, a terrible sight;
Still, staring at it from one's tenth-flat attic,
One knows what time 'twill go, and come, and go;
But where, or when, at morn, eve, noon, or night,
My Comet will flare up I never know -
His movements are so desperately erratic!
At last, gathering courage from despair itself.




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