WHY JESUS WEPT 
79 
Because — I see you as you are. 
Permit me to reduce the list 
Of optimist and pessimist 
By just my name !  I am neither, friends. 
I know a stick has got two ends ! 
Nothing were easier than to show 
That Lady Baird avoided woe ; 
And Lord Glenstrae, that worthy peer, 
Saved whisky by supplying beer. 
For what is good, and makes for peace, 
What evil, wisdom must increase 
Well near omniscience before 
One guesses what it all is for. 
Still, since de gustibus not est — 
(My schoolboy readers know the rest !) 
I much prefer — that is, mere I — 
Solitude to Society. 
And that is why I sit and spoil 
So much clean paper with such toil 
By Kandy Lake in far Ceylon. 
I have my old pyjamas on : 
I shake my soles from Britain’s dust : 
I shall not go there till I must ; 
And when I must — ah, you suppose 
Even I must ! — I hold my nose. 
Farewell, you filthy-minded people ! 
I know a stable from a steeple. 
Farewell, my decent-minded friends ! 
I know arc lights from candle-ends.