THE TRAVERSE OF THE AIGUILLES ROUGES
(1)
WE slept at the Sign of the Beautiful Star;
We dined upon Maggi! and Cotton ;?
We said of the couloir “on pourrait en vouloir” ;
We said of the rocks—they are rotten.
(2)
We said “’T will be cold, not improbably wet,”
We sneered at the ridge we had passed,
We said of the sun “ His day’s work he has done.”
We said of the sky—“ it is vast.”
(3)
We spoke of the snow—“ it is notably cold ” ;
We supped upon Cotton and Maggi ;
We observed to the moon “ Be a dear and come soon.’
We remarked of the crags—“ they are craggy.”
(4)
Intelligent talk will most surely beguile
The longest night out on the rocks ;
So we made of the guides the remarks that revile;
Of their Herrs we said “sheep go in flocks.”
1 His soup. _ ® His tobacco.
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