Explore "A Rebuke" by Thomas Burke on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Excuse me, Mister, if I enter a gentle protest / About the manner in which you comport yourself / When taking the air about the streets. / For, looking at you, one would form the opinion / That you were a man of much worth and nobility, / That you were high in officialdom, / A councillor of the king or a learned judge, / Or one whose piety and wisdom / Had marked him out to sit above his fellow.
One would think thus to see the swinging arms, / The slow protuberant belly sheathed in a vest of scarlet, / And the gold chain of Albert, the great Consort; / To see the haughty head, the portly mien, / The solemn gait, and the complacency with which you view the world.
Don't interrupt! I only wished to tell you / That your claim to the excessive esteem of your neighbours / Is wholly without foundation. / Do please remember, Mister, that that scarlet belly / Was acquired by the labours of little children / Whom you employ to stick labels on bottles.