DEAR Jack <br />Alack! <br />A few days back <br />I bound myself by oath to smack <br />My lips o'er sloshy tea, and attack <br />White, brown, or black <br />Bread, and vile jokes to crack, <br />This night with brutes whose knack <br />Would squeeze a pun in Syriac. <br />And for to—morrow, alack! <br />I have a model on my track, <br />So that I may not pack. <br />Of course I writhe upon the rack: <br />Though as to NATURE, Jack, <br />(Poor dear old hack!) <br />Touching sky, sun, stone, stick, and stack, <br />I guess I'm half a quack; <br />For whom ten lines of Browning whack <br />The whole of the Zodiac. <br />Nevertheless, alack! <br />Seeing this time I must send back <br />To Prince and Baron, Stephens and Jack <br />(Spec—cadav Rex, hic hæc hoc hac), <br />And to the Maniac, <br />The sack. <br />This much from D.G.R. (in black, <br />I.e., with coal—ash cloth—of—sack.)<br /><br />Dante Gabriel Rossetti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/verses-to-john-tupper/
