THE MORALIST. 
For AUGUSTUS 
  
“Il faut être toujours sâoul” 
Charles Baudelaire. 
  
  
Delaying to do the thing that’s right 
Is as bad as having a funk on; 
Then why should we wait till Saturday night 
To get all kinds of a drunk on? 
With brandy a century old in sight, 
Why should we wait till Saturday night? 
  
If I haven’t a house on the Grand Parade, 
I’ll build me a hut of wattle. 
The corkscrew seems to have got mislaid? 
Then smash the neck of the bottle! 
Courage and will and a whack will aid, 
Though the corkscrew seem to have got mislaid. 
  
Anatomists say that a single wing 
Isn’t much for a bird to fly on. 
There’s not much ginger about the spring 
Of the fiercest one-legged lion. 
Another bottle’s the obvious thing 
To get the ginger into our spring. 
  
Beloved brethren, listen to me! 
If there’s one truth of divinity 
Clear, it’s the virtue there is in Three,  
And I myself was at Trinity. 
The least we can do is to seek and see 
The virtues hid in the Number Three. 
  
If much be good, then better is more, 
As any logician will prove you; 
It’s only a step from Three to Four; 
May the argument’s lever move you! 
It’s simply illogical not to explore 
The little bit on from Three to Four.