Three Taverns: A Book of Poems

<h3> <SPAN name="gods"></SPAN> The False Gods<br/> </h3> <p>"We are false and evanescent, and aware of our deceit,<br/> From the straw that is our vitals to the clay that is our feet.<br/> You may serve us if you must, and you shall have your wage of ashes, &mdash;<br/> Though arrears due thereafter may be hard for you to meet.<br/></p> <p>"You may swear that we are solid, you may say that we are strong,<br/> But we know that we are neither and we say that you are wrong;<br/> You may find an easy worship in acclaiming our indulgence,<br/> But your large admiration of us now is not for long.<br/></p> <p>"If your doom is to adore us with a doubt that's never still,<br/> And you pray to see our faces &mdash; pray in earnest, and you will.<br/> You may gaze at us and live, and live assured of our confusion:<br/> For the False Gods are mortal, and are made for you to kill.<br/></p> <p>"And you may as well observe, while apprehensively at ease<br/> With an Art that's inorganic and is anything you please,<br/> That anon your newest ruin may lie crumbling unregarded,<br/> Like an old shrine forgotten in a forest of new trees.<br/></p> <p>"Howsoever like no other be the mode you may employ,<br/> There's an order in the ages for the ages to enjoy;<br/> Though the temples you are shaping and the passions you are singing<br/> Are a long way from Athens and a longer way from Troy.<br/></p> <p>"When we promise more than ever of what never shall arrive,<br/> And you seem a little more than ordinarily alive,<br/> Make a note that you are sure you understand our obligations &mdash;<br/> For there's grief always auditing where two and two are five.<br/></p> <p>"There was this for us to say and there was this for you to know,<br/> Though it humbles and it hurts us when we have to tell you so.<br/> If you doubt the only truth in all our perjured composition,<br/> May the True Gods attend you and forget us when we go."<br/></p> <p><br/><br/><br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />