THE LAKE ISLE

EZRA LOOMIS POUND

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                O God, O Venus, O Mercury, patron of thieves,
      Give me in due time, I beseech you, a little tobacco-shop,
      With the little bright boxes
                piled up neatly upon the shelves
      And the loose fragment cavendish
                and the shag,
      And the bright Virginia
                loose under the bright glass cases,
      And a pair of scales
                not too greasy,
      And the votailles dropping in for a word or two in passing,
      For a flip word, and to tidy their hair a bit.

                O God, O Venus, O Mercury, patron of thieves,
      Lend me a little tobacco-shop,
                or install me in any profession
      Save this damn'd profession of writing,
                where one needs one's brains all the time.